


Little Birds and Dinosaurs

by Shadhavar1126 (Chimera428)



Category: Supercat - Fandom, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alex Danvers & Winn Schott Jr. Friendship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Nanny, Alternate Universe - No Superman, Alternative Time Line, Alura Hologram, Angst, Astra (Supergirl TV 2015) Lives, Baby!Carter, Bisexual Diana (Wonder Woman), CatCo Worldwide Media, Child abandonment issues, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Constipation, Eventual Kara Danvers/Cat Grant, F/F, Families of Choice, Fluff and Angst, Fortress of Solitude, Gen, Holidays included, Jor-El Hologram, Kara and Clark landed at the same time, LexCorp, Marriage of Convenience, Minor Adam grant, Minor Astra/Alex Danvers, Minor Danvers family, Minor Diana Prince, Minor Grant Family, Minor James olsen - Freeform, Minor Kent family, Minor Lena Luthor, Minor Lois Lane/Diana Prince, Minor Lois lane, Minor Lucas snapper carr, Minor Lucy lane, Minor Olivia Marsdin, Minor Original Character(s), Minor Susan Vasquez, Minor Winn Schott Jr, Past Cat Grant/Lois Lane, Past Relationship(s), Project Cadmus, Protective Kara Danvers, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Cat Grant, Sorry Not Sorry, Space Dad Hank Henshaw | J'onn J'onzz, Superman 2 parallels, Superman the Movie parallels, The DEO | Department of Extra-Normal Operations, Unethical Experimentation, Universe Alteration, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Zor-El hologram, baby carter grant, clark and kara brought up together, kara is cats nanny, kara lands earlier, nanny!kara, supercat, wonderlane
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2018-09-13 19:42:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 59
Words: 304,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9139456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chimera428/pseuds/Shadhavar1126
Summary: What would happen if Kara Zor-El and Kal-El had landed at the same time? How different would everyone's lives be because of it?Asher Ellison, husband to one Cat Grant, or at least as far as outward appearances go, hires a new nanny for Cat's soon to be four year old son Carter named Kara Danvers.





	1. The Job, and Its Offers

**Author's Note:**

> So apparently this is the thing that people always suggest/request/think about or say 'hey wouldn't it be interesting if' but it hasn't been written?? If it has been then lemme know?
> 
> [ FicCast here](http://shadhavar1126.tumblr.com/post/173149757118/little-birds-and-dinosaurs-character-sheet)
> 
> This story's timeline is a little more flexible than show canon in that Kara is around 11 when Krypton explodes and Clark is a newborn . Krypton explodes in 78 like canon, however both Kara/Clark get stuck in the phantom zone for about 12 years only to eventually get free in 1990 Earth year and end up landing on Earth in 1993 together. 
> 
> Current time is 2004
> 
> 12/17/2017 - Minor edits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The interview is always the hardest...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making minute edits 12/17/2017

Kara looked over at the man across the coffee table from her, adjusting her glasses and pulling the edges of her trench coat a little tighter as he once again let his gaze dip to her chest.

"My wife is going to -love- you." The edge of sarcasm in his tone was as dull as his perception of her. "If you ever see her at all. She's a workaholic, trying to start some company or idea or something. Which is why I, er, we need you, for Carter of course."

Kara wanted to say no, felt in a way she should probably say no. That she'd undoubtedly be saying no if this man cornered her in his house alone with his wife away at some office and a child between them. She wasn't that naive, but clearly, someone prior to her had been.

But this was their third meeting, the first had been over the phone to verify her qualifications and that she was an actual person. The second had been on sheer accident when he was picking up his dry cleaning and she had met Carter, which brought them to their third meeting.

She hadn't met his wife, nor did she honestly feel with his tone that Kara would be all that well received, but Carter had clung to her like a puppy to a new toy and was quick to focus and eager to learn. Clearly neglected, especially by his father who seemed to have too little time for him and kept asking for his mother until Kara had picked him up.

"I'll start Monday then?"

"Excellent."

And that's how one Kara Danvers became one Carter Grant-Ellison's nanny.

Meeting Mrs. Ellison, or in this case as she preferred, Ms. Grant, had been interesting and harrowing. She and Mr. Ellison had been talking over and around her for a good twenty minutes until Carter had started to fuss with their rise in tone and voice until Kara had picked him up, cradling the toddler to her and bouncing him out of the room.

The door had barely swung shut behind her when Cat pushed through it on its next upswing.

“Who the hell are you and why-” she extracted Carter from Kara’s capable hands, causing him to fuss and writhe about trying to get back to the much younger woman with the impossibly long legs and blonde disposition Cat knew fit Asher’s wandering eye to within an inch of its life. She was certain he preferred them more busty and less brawny by comparison, but that was the least of her worries when Carter pitched himself sharply causing her grip to slip on him.

Kara was there in a heartbeat, less than, a blink, some kind of Olympian millisecond in fact. Her hands were around Carter’s body and he was up in the air as if the whole series of motions had been intentional causing his laughter to peal through the room and drain some of the seething irritation from Cat.

Asher was there before Cat could continue on her tirade, even if she didn’t have half the venom she did a moment prior in reserves for their newest nanny. Already Cat was counting figures in her mind from his bank account that she would end up having to withdraw with this one, should her wayward husband, if you could even call him that anymore, attempt to continue his thinly veiled pursuit of a younger, dumber version of Cat.

This one, however, was different, aside from the obvious differences she had spotted before, this one was far more interested in her son, even in the scant few moments Cat had noticed her, more than even Asher paid the boy mind. Which was only further advanced as she secreted her son away with a quiet excuse as Asher tried to talk to Cat while leaving his poorly implied innuendos to fall on Kara.

Or more, the floor in the wake of her departure.

“You are unbelievable.” Cat turned on Asher then, pushing thoughts of Kara and the smile her son held on his face as the woman carried him across the house to a safer area.

“Oh get over yourself, Kitty.” He made a wide gesture. “I’ve got a job too y’know, and it doesn’t include watching him when you should be.”

“We’re not having this discussion with a stranger in the house. A stranger who currently-”

“We won’t discuss it with or without a stranger in the house, and that stranger currently has your son quieter and more occupied than even you’ve been in the past few weeks.”

“Which is more than I can say for the last attempt you hired. Where did you manage to find that one Asher? A tanning salon or was she one of the club’s towel girls?”

“Enough Cat. She would have learned well enough if you had just left her alone.”

“You mean left her AND you alone.”

“Don’t pretend this is something real anymore Kitty, this is convenient that’s all, we figured that out later rather than sooner didn’t we. You might be a stone cold bitch but I have needs you know.”

Cat shifted her jaw, arms coming to cross over her chest. “If I were a man-”

“If you were a man…” Asher started to say something but with the cut of her eyes he knew they were done, this would only continue to degrade between them and he didn’t have the stamina for it anymore. “If you were a man you’d either clap me on the back or climb her like a tree,” Asher muttered under his breath as he shouldered his way past her and towards the stairs to his office.

Cat was already into her second glass of scotch by the time she felt even remotely close to calm. The Tribune’s final layout set in front of her across her desk while the near dictionary size set of files concerning her purchase of a few other smaller papers and a radio station sat nearby and untouched. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t need some kind of help, especially with her son.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be a mother, far from it especially considering her prior track record, but she also wanted a better life for Carter in the long run than she could have ever hoped to have given Adam when she was fresh out of college, twenty one and pregnant and still under the decisive whims of an overbearing loveless mother.

With Carter, she had gotten half of it right, moving from Metropolis to National City, working her way through media outlets and various other endeavors to make a name for herself, only to realize her name and her single status were just too high a risk and too impossible a consideration when it came to loans and start-up endeavors.

Which was where Asher had come in. They had cared for one another, certainly, they had been far more inclined towards one another physically when they had met years ago in school. Now he was a prestigious lawyer, headed for partner and she, of course, the daughter of the great author C. K. Grant and her late father, whose legacy she longed to uphold over her mother’s want to overshadow her now long since passed husband.

Married and ambitious opened far more doors than widowed and with child, even with her own familial connections and capital to boot. Something her mother still refused to speak to her about. Cat thumbed the layout in front of her, slipping her glasses off the bridge of her nose as she sat back contemplating if it was really all worth this.

Before she could continue the thought there was a quiet but firm knock at the door, instantly lifting her gaze.

“Ms. Grant?” Kara questioned as she opened the woman’s office door unbidden.

“You’re rather forward,” Cat stated in a cold tone, her spine straightening as she saw the slight flinch of Kara’s frame with the observation.

“Mr. Ellison hasn’t answered my text or the door when I tried, I saw your light and-”

“Cab fare?”

“Excuse-?”

“There isn’t one for you Kiera.” Cat twisted the girl’s name, folding her glasses on the desk in front of her and closing the layout away when she caught Kara’s gaze drifting to it. “What was so important you needed to barge in?”

Kara clenched her jaw, biting back her initial words before taking a deep breath inward and counting to five before speaking. “Carter needs you.”

Cat narrowed her eyes, pushing to a stand and holding her balance with the aid of her desk causing Kara to step closer upon seeing the misstep.

“Don’t,” Cat growled, holding a hand out to still the other woman before straightening her skirt and attempting to compose herself.

“He needs you sober.”

Cat blinked up, eyeing Kara dangerously though the girl across from her suddenly seemed older than her visible years. Determination straightened her shoulders and conviction steadied her nerves.

“You don’t like me. That’s fair Ms. Grant, but it’s not fair to him.”

“And you’re hired simply to take care of him not how to school me in being a par-”

“You don’t get to call yourself a parent until you and your husband can act like adults and give a damn. That little boy in there talks so much about his mother who he hardly got to see today I could probably tell you more about yourself than you could tell me about him. How fair is that for a three-year-old.”

Cat narrowed her eyes, the threat of her stance and her tone gone with the other woman’s words.

“What has he promised you?”

It was Kara’s turn to look struck with the implication and found herself invading Cat’s space.

“Other than a disgusting amount of money to play parent, nothing. Though don’t think I’m an idiot just because I’m a blonde Ms. Grant or that I look like I just stepped out of a graduation hall. There was plenty of implication but your husband didn’t sell me on this job, or the money, it was your son.”

Cat shifted her jaw, realizing too late she had given up ground to the other woman as she stood near the back of her desk instead of the front of it where she had started.

“I don’t know what your status or your relationship or whatever is, nor do I honestly care, your husband shows his money like he shows his ass but that little boy in there, -needs- his parents. Lucky as he is to actually have them, unlike other kids I’ve been a nanny for. You might think about that when you’re sitting atop your castle looking down at the rest of us.”

The two women stared at one another for another beat or two until Kara felt her sudden burst of resolution dissolve, leaving her close to trembling when the weight of all that she had spewed forth and to whom laid into her like a twenty story building.

She swallowed hard, realizing the woman in front of her had more money invested in the clothes she had on that Kara had invested in her entire apartment, wardrobe and probably student debts combined. She adjusted her glasses as she stepped back, and further still feeling the chill at another job gone and a far longer stretch of a paycheck slipping through her fingers.

When Cat didn’t say anything and just kept her gaze level and menacing Kara knew it was over, a single day, surpassed her record for job turnaround from a single month. If it wasn’t so painful she’d probably laugh.

“Goodnight Ms. Grant.” Kara let out before closing the door behind herself.

Kara was more than few blocks away, headed for the nearest bus station when a car pulled across from her, blocking the walk. She wouldn’t have stopped were it not for her phone bleating away at her from inside her bag until she located it.

“Hello?”

“Get in the car, Kiera.”

“Who-” She pulled the phone away, looking at the caller id and nearly dropping the phone as a result. “Ms. Grant?”

“His name is Austin. He is not cheap, neither are you apparently. Get in the car.”

“I can walk.” Kara started to move around the car only to have it back up and block her forward momentum. She tried to work around the hood with the same result.

“Ms. Grant-” The sound of the window coming down turned Kara back to the car her phone slipping from her ear only to be cradled against her shoulder at what she saw.

“Get in the damn car,” Cat spoke, glaring up at the younger woman from where she was leaning forward in order to see her from the back seat.

Kara pulled in a breath, disconnecting the call as she stared down at the older woman looking up at her, taking a half step closer before the door was opened to her and Cat leaned back and out of sight once more.

Kara chewed on her lip, taking another step before using the door for leverage as she ducked inside and sat, pulling the thing towards her with a thunk of a sound.

“I’m not about to leave you to the wolves of this city.”

Kara looked confused for a second as Cat knocked on the partition, never taking her eyes off the younger woman. “Last thing I need is that kind of scandal.”

“You’re giving me a ride home so you don’t become front page news in the event something happens to me?”

“Not as dumb as you look indeed.” Cat commented making Kara reach for the door handle despite the car’s motion.

Cat cut her off halfway, their hands colliding in the process. “My husband-” Cat pressed watching Kara carefully while the other woman tightened her grip, more than willing to throw Cat’s hand away from her and open the door anyway.

“Got the luxury of meeting you, talking to you, introducing you to my son -and- you’ve been inside my house. Without approval or consideration one from me.” She felt Kara’s grip ease, the truth of her words soothing some of the woman’s raised hackles. “I thought it only fair to get the same amount of time he did and where that’s lacking I’ll at least know where you live.”

Kara sat back slowly, taking note of the view outside that all they had done in that short span of time was drive in a languid circle around the Grant-Ellison walk up. She adjusted her glasses then, crossing her arms over her chest as she studied the older woman across from her.

“Fiftieth and Fig Street, the brick building.”

Cat rose a brow, eyeing Kara again and the location provided. It wasn’t where Cat lived, but at the same time, it wasn’t nearly as bad as she guessed Kara might be coming from given her attire. There was something to be said for not judging a book by its cover, but Cat chose to ignore it for now as she settled into her seat.

“Good girl,” Cat said, attempting to set the girl on edge again.

“Kara.”

Both brows rose into Cat’s hairline at the correction. “Good girl K-”

“No.” Kara cleared her throat, thankful for the dim lighting to obscure the slight flush at her throat. “My name is Kara. Please use it.”

Cat hummed with a small nod but didn’t vocalize much else, merely content to study Kara like a bug.

They arrived at Kara’s apartment without further conversation, no inquiry or requests made on Cat’s behalf despite the nearly half hour drive. Just silence. A silence that Kara tried to ignore given how comfortable it seemed to become the further and further they got from Cat’s residence. It allowed Kara to observe the older woman without influence or bias as she lost herself to the scenery of a National City she rarely traveled anymore. In turn, it allowed Cat to study Kara unobstructed once her surroundings became more familiar and comfortable to her.

Austin was out of the car before either woman could move, opening the back door to allow Kara out. She slid forward, barely brushing Cat’s bare knee with the back of her hand as she slipped out only to get caught when Cat snagged her bag, immediately forcing Kara back and down.

“Do you have a car?”

Kara shook her head and Cat nodded.

“Loathe as I am to shift -my- schedule, you’re a part of it. Austin will come and get you in the morning, promptly at seven, bring you to me, leave you with Carter and take you home in the evening.”

“I can take the b-” Kara felt her bag released, sending her back slightly as Austin lifted a hand to keep her steady just in case.

“I won’t have you exposing Carter to all of National City and everything the public transit system has to offer. Despite your seemingly healthy disposition to the contrary.” Cat turned her gaze to Kara more directly, catching her eyes and holding them before speaking again. “I expect you to take care of Carter and what he needs, nothing else, understand?”

Kara nodded after a moment feeling a shift between the two of them but not able to put a proper finger on it. “Yes, Ms. Grant.”

“Goodnight Kiera.”

Kara started to correct the woman but figure that was the closest she was going to get to her actual name and let it go, saying a quiet good night to Austin before she made her way inside and upstairs to her fourth-floor apartment.

“Austin?” Cat questioned once the driver was reseated.

“Yes, Ms. Grant?”

“Make sure she’s fed properly and has a coffee or tea or whatever she drinks every morning, my bill.”

“Yes, Ms. Grant.” Without another word he put the car into drive and made his way back to her residence.


	2. A Week and a Month and a Plate of Cookies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat deduces something about Kara about what makes her so good at handling Carter and Kara discovers a secret of Cat's the sheds light on her icy exterior.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12/17/2017 - minor edits

More than a week went by before Kara and Cat occupied the same space for longer than a few seconds. It wasn’t intentional and Kara wasn’t even aware of it, or so Cat guessed because there was no fathomable way she would be carrying on if Kara knew someone was watching her. Granted, Cat might exhibit what Kara was with her son, because Carter was indeed, her son, and Kara was a complete stranger to him. Not exactly complete, she amended, but a week's worth of visitations and mealtimes and bath-times and diapers and the like did not a parent make.

Which was why Cat was convinced Kara had no idea she was even being watched as she moved across Carter’s room. Given how Cat was only privy to the scene in front of her partially, it made her realize that his room was far too big for a three-year-old.

Kara was bouncing him gently, one arm under his body, the other gently rubbing his back as she sung to him. The words Cat could barely make out were ones she had never in her life heard, despite being to various boarding schools and plenty of other countries where she made it a point to learn the native language. Despite their base nature, the words were melodic information and with the softer lilt of Kara’s voice against her son’s head Cat couldn’t help herself but draw closer.

There was a part of Cat that wondered more about the girl, although she merely filed it in the realm of wanting to know more about the person who was caring for her son versus anything else; there were references and plenty of experience on her resume and of course the background check she had performed outside Asher’s rather lacking one came up clean, but still she wondered. Kara took to Carter easily, not many people were easy with children, far less were easy with children under five.

Fewer still were easy to tolerate her or Asher or their home.

Kara nuzzled Carter’s temple gently, her fingers threading into the shallow depths of his hairline as he relaxed completely against her chest and shoulder. She continued to sing softly to him, remembering without effort what it was like to hear her mother’s voice at her temple, to feel her heartbeat reverberating through Kara’s then tiny body making her feel safe and secure. To smell the calming scent of her soap and the hint of spice she wore that soothed Kara even in the final seconds of her home before she was forced to leave it.

She drew in a deep breath then, feeling the weight of that memory and knowing the influence one could have on those in their grasp altered her trajectory towards Carter’s bed, she had pulled the side guard up prior to bouncing him about just in case and was thankful she did on the off chance doing so now would wake him.

She eased him down gently, covering him up in his favorite dinosaur sheets, complete with t-rex shaped blanket and all before straightening away.

“Goodnight little prince, sleep well, dream far and always come home safe.” She whispered before turning the light to his room off, bathing it in the dim glow of stars from his night lamp and making for the door. Kara eased out of the room, leaving it ajar enough for his parents to hear him should he wake.

Cat watched her carefully, having moved away from Carter’s room as soon as Kara had made her way towards his bed, standing now at the far end of the hall near her office. Asher was still at work, so he claimed, and had a meeting with the partners thereafter so wouldn’t be home until later.

Kara felt eyes on her, knew whom they belonged to and with careful consideration turned her gaze down the hall before following with her features just in time to see Cat lifting her gaze back to her. They held each other’s stare for a moment or two before Kara offered a ghost of a smile and Cat gave a visible sigh and looked away, slipping out of the doorway and back into the depths of her office.

Kara wasn’t sure why she was disappointed in that moment but with Cat’s retreat, she couldn’t help the sigh that broke past her lips releasing the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding in the first place. She set her hand on the flat of Carter’s door, glancing to him one more time before stepping away and making her way to the opposite side of the Grant-Ellison home where her stuff hung in the foyer.

“Kiera?”

The voice was soft, not exactly hesitant but neither was it loud. It was searching, testing the distance between the two of them and with it, Kara turned looking down the hall. Not seeing Cat back in the doorway, she ventured down the darkened hallway, easing into the much crisper light of the woman’s home office until she stood at the threshold.

Cat was standing against the far wall, drink in hand, the window open and giving her a perfect view of the city which was why she had chosen this particular place to begin with, although she wished it were far higher. Kara tipped her head slightly, looking further into the office before taking the opportunity to observe the other woman while she wasn’t paying attention to her.

The apprehension she felt about Asher was nothing in comparison to what Cat had stirred in her the first time they had met. Which of course was something that had only compounded itself the longer she lingered on the idea of the woman tracking her about the house as she tended to her son. It was completely inappropriate given the situation, but she wasn’t going to pretend any more than she already was about herself, least of all about finding herself attracted to someone like Cat Grant.

Cat was strong in her own right, despite her slight stature, there was confidence and power there that Kara easily saw simmering beneath her aura but at the same time, it was rough around the edges, tamped down and almost subdued behind something, that while still beautiful, was almost sad. It pulled Kara deeper into the room and again, she felt Cat’s gaze on her even if she didn’t turn her features to regard the younger woman and instead took a sip of her drink.

“Did, “ Kara straightened some when Cat feigned surprise, turning on her sharply around swallowing the dark amber liquid from her glass. “You call me Ms. Grant?”

Cat narrowed her eyes, studying the girl before moving to her desk, easing her tumbler on the surface and taking a seat in the well-worn chair behind it.

“Sit for a minute? Unless you have somewhere more important to be.”

There was a question in the statement Cat made, veiled and something Kara couldn’t quite place before she shook her head and moved to the nearby chair not exactly across from Cat but enough, shoulders brushing the wall. “Is something-”

“Did you give one or lose one?”

Kara rose a brow. “One what?”

Cat shifted her jaw slightly, leaning back into her chair, studying Kara even more intensely before chancing a glance to the other baby picture half hidden under paperwork on her desk then back again.

“The way you are with Carter, that’s a learned thing. Don’t get me wrong, some people are very good with children, especially given enough time, but the best nannies have one common underlying factor.”

“Which is?”

“They’re mothers.”

Kara felt her chest tighten then, her back pushing into the wall a touch further as Cat caught her eyes. She swallowed visibly and adjusted her glasses, letting out a small mirthless laugh to brush off the sudden intensity of the moment.

“I’m not sure what you’re trying to imply, Ms. Grant but-”

“I’m not implying anything, I’m asking if you lost a child or gave one up Kara.”

Kara felt her throat get narrow and her eyes turn to glass, trying to maintain her expression of aloofness and disconnection to the severity of the nature of Cat’s line of questions.

Cat finally had the sense enough to look down and away, reaching for her glass again as she turned her chair to the side, leaving Kara to herself as she took another sip of her drink. Kara for her worth managed to compose herself to some degree, swallowing back her emotions before standing.

She stopped in the mouth of the office, glancing to Carter’s door off to the right before looking back at Cat, finally seeing the similarity in their expressions and the edge of remorse she caught in the pulse of Cat’s aura before she shut her eyes off to it and looked away.

“I gave up my cousin.” She finally allowed, not turning to face Cat for her own reasons, fingernails plucking at the door jam. “He was three and I was fourteen.” Kara felt her chest cave painfully, she didn’t owe this woman anything, least of all an explanation as to why she was so good with children.

Cat glared at her own reflection of the glass frame on the wall she was staring at, easily seeing Kara’s backside where she still stood in the doorway as well. She didn’t know why she wanted to hurt the woman when she saw her with Carter. It was childish and if she were honest she was simply lashing out in order to keep herself from focusing on the emotions that were coiled low along the base of her spine.

She argued that she needed to ask the question she had, to force the point and see where Kara stood and if she would admit to whatever made Carter cling to her more than herself. Even if Cat knew the reason he wasn’t connected to her was due to her throwing herself into building the foundation of his future, even if it cost her her own.

What she hadn’t expected was to be right, even if the little voice in the back of her mind continued to push at her, nudging her instincts and twisting at the lock on her emotions. She knew there was something that drew her to Kara and right now she argued it was merely the fact they had both given up children for a better cause.

“Goodnight Ms. Grant.”

Kara was gone before Cat could even turn around, her glass abandoned she moved around her desk making her way into the hall only to see Kara closing the front door behind herself. Cat closed her eyes then, swearing at herself internally as she let out a deep breath only to hear the slight fuss of Carter. She swallowed thickly and moved down the hall to his room then.

He kicked his blanket and Cat neared the edge of his bed, drawing him up from it and into her arms where he instantly relaxed and if she didn’t know better clung that much tighter to her, nuzzling into her neck while his tiny hands pulled her blouse into his fists.

Kara was quick to get into the car once it came around the corner, her phone was out in an instant, the tone only sounding a half trill before her sister picked up.

“Kara?” There was a muffled sound on the end and a rustle of fabric before Alex’s voice came over the phone more alert than before. “What’s wrong?”

“Alex…”

WIthout prompt Alex knew where Kara was at, everything she needed to know was in her older sister’s tone.

“I don’t have class tomorrow until the afternoon, it’s okay. Stop if you need to, I’ll take care of the rest ok?”

Kara nodded unseen, taking in a deep breath. “I’ll be there soon.” She assured, hanging up the phone before giving Austin directions on where she wanted him to stop on her way home.

 

\-------

 

Nearly a month went by before Cat found herself alone, yet again, with Kara in the house puttering away with Carter. She could hear them from her office, even with the door shut, the sound of Carter’s peals of laughter echoing off the walls and Kara’s hum of a voice pulled at Cat more than it should have.

Clearly, there was some kind of mess being had and soundly at that with all of the ruckus filtering down the hall. Kara knew there were rules, given particular hours of the day and especially if Cat was working. She should have been angry, she should have been furious but instead, she found herself intrigued and in a way lonely, wondering what all was going on without her.

She had tried to stave off those kinds of thoughts. The ones that crept in after she sobered up and the early night hours settled into her bones, long after Asher had settled into his bed and Carter was well into his dreams. Cat laid awake, contemplating how much of Carter’s life she was missing, how his memories were being filled with Kara instead of her, not unlike Lois had for Adam.

It twisted her insides and continued to serve as a barricade between her and the other woman so she could remain a simple observer. Or hear about Carter’s adventures as he provided them to her before Kara showed up during the day. Not to mention the few times she had come home later than her in name only husband and had found him chatting the younger woman up.

Although for her merit, Kara managed to find a proper excuse to divest herself from him, or at least his veiled attempts to flirt with her without making it appear as if she were being rude. Cat had also noticed Kara lingered closer to her spaces when she came home if both she and Asher were present in a given room. That even if they slipped into their own spaces to take care of whatever it was that needed to be seen to for the evening, Kara was always somewhere within her eye line or hearing.

Like now, although in her state of pondering she noticed the louder banging had ceased as had Carter’s laughter. She strained against her senses to try and make out anything only to startle slightly with a knock at her door.

“Mommy?”

Cat straightened and was at the door before she could answer verbally.

Kara was still bent over, her hands under Carter’s arms helping him carry the plate full of cookies in his grasp. They were both covered in all manner of baking ingredients, smudges of flour and bits of sugar and even chocolate colored them both in various spots that Cat felt her heart melting over.

Carter raised the plate, Kara’s hands keeping it steady before she flung her ponytail back over her shoulder with a well-placed shrug in order to look up at Cat after whispering to Carter just out of Cat’s range.

“Mafe these foo yoo Mommy. Wiff loves, cause beesee.”

Cat looked between her son and the woman who was supposed to be watching him, was supposed to be taking care of him, was supposed to keep him occupied so she and Asher could work and attempt to manage the bleeding of their failing sham of a marriage and everything else that weighed on her shoulders.

“You did?” She finally spoke, her voice breaking slightly while Carter nodded.

“Mama helped.”

“Kara.” The woman corrected gently, her cheeks flushing ever so slightly at his lack of wanting to call her by her name and instead opting for a far easier to speak moniker. It set Cat on an edge she wasn’t prepared for but by some miracle, most likely the three-year-old one at her feet, she didn’t lash out or cut Kara down to the quick with the venom that pumped into her veins suddenly at the sentiment bestowed upon her.

Cat wasn’t sure who or what to grab first, but opted for the safest option and snagged the plate of cookies as they wobbled and weaved a bit between the two while Kara hefted Carter up effortlessly, setting him on her hip with an arm wrapped firmly around his waist while he twisted to watch his mommy.

Kara mouthed another apology, having caught the sharp flares of Cat’s aura with Carter’s slip, the first time it had happened was earlier in the week and she simply took it as his lack of ability to say her name properly with his tiny mouth. Of course, when he continued to call her Mama she was quick to tamp down on it, instantly correcting him the second she heard the first syllable break.

She had hoped he would have grown out of it or followed through with her corrective measures before Cat ever had an inkling of an idea of what her son was calling his nanny but Kara was also starting to learn that anything easy was far and few between with this current family, and especially Cat.

“Haf one mommy.”

“Have” The two women corrected at the same time, again catching each other’s eyes before Carter pivoted and pulled Kara’s attention to ensure he stayed in her grasp. Cat swallowed hard, the memories of a time far past its point of redemption, its evidence displayed via the latest card on her desk with a picture of her eldest son burning into her, turning her knuckles white as she watched Kara handle Carter.

She was quicker than he was but gentle as she grabbed for his hands to keep them from smacking her in the face, she secured his center of gravity in her arm so he could move freely but still be secure and not fall from where she held him. Her features were littered in baking materials which were far more endearing than Cat had ever thought she’d feel towards the woman and the fact that she let Carter take hold of her face only to smudge even more of their kitchen mess across her cheeks and into her hair made Cat’s eyes turn glassy.

Kara glanced over at Cat then, watching the flares of her aura and the sudden shift in her energy and expression, seeing the bloodshot of her eyes and the glass that threatened to break across her cheeks in the form of tears. She gently turned Carter so his back was to his mother, rubbing her nose against his as she spoke about getting cleaned up, but first, he had to make a mess of his toys in his pen so his dinosaurs wouldn’t be left out.

Carter, of course, agreed as if it were the most brilliant idea on the face of the Earth in the form of another peal of giggles and bounces as Kara took the two of them back down the hall and into the living room where his playpen was set up. Cat, on the other hand, watched them leave, her heart twisting further in the vice of her chest before she turned like some kind of automaton and made her way back into her office.

“Be a good boy, buddy. Tell your saurs all about it okay? It was a great kitchen adventure.”

“Okay, Mama.”

“Kara..”

Carter ‘mmhmm’’d’ at her without looking, already grabbing for his toys to prattle on in his own language about all the things he and Kara had done in the kitchen for Mommy.

Kara pushed up, after making sure the pen was secure and he would be alright even for a moment or two before making her way back down the hall. Cat’s office door was ajar but not completely closed and with a determined breath Kara took it as some unspoken invitation and gently eased it open and slipped inside.

She ensured that the door made plenty of noise as she closed it behind herself watching Cat’s shoulders tense but she didn’t bother to turn around. The plate of cookies was at the center of her desk, obscuring Cat’s mail, on top of which was a photocard family's liked to send for the holidays but the image was obscured.

Kara licked her lips, feeling her nerves on edge with what she was doing. She was supposed to be here for Carter, to make it easier for his parents to get things done and ensure he was well taken care of so they could all focus on other things until her services were no longer needed. She was not here for moral or emotional support of his mother. She was not here to ensure his mother was taken care of. Kara was certainly not here to ensure she was emotionally sound and was made aware, even if just by subtle hinting, how amazing she actually was all things considered.

And Kara knew plenty about amazing and extraordinary things. As well as what happened when said things were caged and beaten down for everyone else's reasons.

“Are you alright?” Kara cautioned, stepping closer and watching Cat turn her chair away from her to face her window causing Kara’s forward momentum to slow to a crawl.

“Was that Carter’s or your-”

“He wanted to do something for you, I just steered him towards baking.”

Cat nodded, again watching the reflections in the glass of her office window instead of the cityscape outside. “The mess-”

“Is already taken care of. He and I were the last bit of it and he was so excited and everything was still warm.” Kara stepped close enough that Cat could make out her expression in the glass as she fidgeted with her hands. “I didn’t mean to upset you, he certainly didn’t. I, baking wasn’t on the list you-”

“Screw the list Kiera, I was just seeing if you could follow directions or if you were defiant and vindictive.” Cat let out a sigh, her eyes closing with the exhale as she tried to ground herself and push the confusing mess of thoughts bouncing around and compounding themselves in her mind away.

“Why would someone you hire as a nanny be-”

“-I- didn’t hire you. My husband did, for his own reasons, there are plenty who would and have been prior to you.”

“I’m not interested in your husband, and I’m not interested in the reasons he thinks he hired me however wrong they are. I’m interested in Carter, and his well being and the well being of who and what is most important to him, which is you.”

Kara hadn’t expected Cat to turn on her then, that was evident in her expression Cat noted. Of course, she wasn’t expecting what Kara had said to pull her around from the burrow where her heart lied either. Somewhere her brain heard “interested in you” but as she played back the woman’s words in her head she settled into their weight with a shift of her jaw.

“Is that supposed to make you astute?”

Kara shook her head. “Just observant is all.”

Cat mm’d with a disjointed nod, eyes running over Kara’s frame and the state she was still in from her and Carter’s adventure in the kitchen. It soured her heart even more to realize it wasn’t her in Kara’s position, covered in an adventure shared with her son. Yet again thanks to her ambition and the life she had dug herself into, she was missing out on far more important things. At least this time she wasn’t involved with this woman like she had been with Lois when it came to Adam.

Kara felt her shoulders squaring, watching Cat’s aura before glancing down at the discarded portrait card again, her voice breaking past her lips before she could stop herself.

“I was going to ask if, I should be prepared to take care of Carter for Christmas.”

Cat blinked up at her, the shock of the question and the given holiday pulling at her chest like someone withdrawing a knife.

“Meaning?” Her tone was dangerous but Kara didn’t seem phased in the slightest.

In fact, she moved closer, dragging a chair with her so she and Cat were on the same level and far closer than they should be.

“Mr. Ellison mentioned something about corporate parties you would both be in attendance of, or so he assumed. Something about one your mother was hosting and you were expected for as well as a few others.”

“The point Kiera. Get to it.” Cat growled, she didn’t need the exposition of a short story, especially when it came to something Asher had divulged to the nanny to win points in her favor.

“My sister and I were going to entertain her mom, my cousin and his foster parents this weekend. I certainly can’t bring them here and trying to find someone else to sit for Carter while you and Mr. Ellison handle your obligations. I thought perhaps I could take him home with me Friday next week. I’d bring him back before he could even hope to wake up on Christmas Day, but that way you could get the house ready and his-”

“Get the house ready?”

Kara looked confused for a moment. “Mr. Ellison said you’d have the house decorated for Carter and if I wanted to come help-” Kara’s words fell flat as she watched Cat’s expression harden and her spine carry her up in her seat a good inch or two. The look Kara was granted wasn’t one she ever wanted to be directed at her and somehow knew in this moment it wasn’t but still.

Kara licked her lips tentatively and swallowed visibly, her voice had dropped to a more cautionary volume, half worried Cat would lash out at her if she were louder while pointing out the obvious to confirm her suspicions.

“You don’t actually get anything ready, do you.”

Cat shook her head slowly. “On the contrary, I’m going to.” The woman’s voice was like ice, dangerous enough that Kara felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

“I’m not trying to cause-”

“I know. But he is.” Cat hissed, pushing from her chair and brushing past Kara from where she sat, pulling the other woman up with a twist unbidden so that when she turned in her pacing Cat nearly ran into her. “Damn it...must you?”

Kara backed up and out of the way, feeling Cat’s glare shift from her to the presented situation. She watched Cat weave across the floor, chancing a glance to the door as she listened for Carter, easily noting his babbling and dinosaur noises before tuning her hearing back down and focusing on the prowling woman in front of her.

“Ms. Grant I-”

“If you apologize right now so help me god.”

Kara tucked her lips in with the cut of Cat’s gaze and remained as still as she could, unsure of what to do.

“Should check on Carter.”

Cat stilled almost instantly, her attention turning to the closed door before Cat seemed to settle into something unspoken, giving Kara a nod without looking at her. “Grab the plate, Kiera, you should get cleaned up and make your way home.”

Kara felt her shoulders fall slightly, trying not to let her disappointment show, realizing instead of helping she had systematically made everything worse. “I can clean up at home, I’ll just get my things.”

Kara started for the door, sans plate only to have Cat bar her way with a well-placed step and a tip of her head to pull Kara’s focus.

“Don’t sulk about Kiera. You were supposed to have left before now.” She kept going despite Kara’s breath of a protest. “You stay longer than you should when you know by now the schedules we keep. Without extra pay, I might add.” Kara started to protest again and Cat held up a hand, locking gazes with the other woman.

“I notice. -We- notice.” They stared at each other for a heartbeat longer than was appropriate, if there even was such a thing and it was Cat whose gaze broke away first, drifting down with a flicker of her lashes before her eyes lifted back up again. “Don’t argue, just get the plate.”

As Kara turned to comply Cat went the other direction, slipping out of her office far quicker than Kara liked, feeling the weight of all these pent up and stifled emotions settling over her like a heavy blanket. She felt her shoulders droop with it, her back grow tense and her heart pound in her chest as she set her hands on Cat’s desk to try and sort through all that she was feeling and all that Cat had left her with.

It was then she took the opportunity to look at the card beneath the plate, easing it out in order to read it knowing she shouldn’t. Knowing if Cat were to come back into her office right now she would probably fire for her insatiable curiosity concerning the thing.

“Merry Christmas from the Lane Family!  
-Much Love and Happy Holidays from Adam and Lois!”

Kara turned the card over, scanning the back briefly before turning it right and looking again at Cat’s eyes looking back at her through someone else's body. He was older, close to her cousin’s age by the look of it and the woman beside him looked beyond happy as they both mugged for the camera. With a half turn, Kara looked to the open doorway, hearing Carter squeal with delight and Cat’s much gentler tone humming down the hall.

Kara looked back to the card, then below it to the envelope it had come in before setting the thing back on Cat’s desk, coming away with the plate of cookies as she made her own way out of the other woman’s office.

 


	3. The Day before Christmas Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Cat's request concerning Carter and the holidays, Kara discovers something about Asher and confronts Cat at CatCo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12/17/2017 - Minor Edits

Kara stood on the landing, straightening her vest and making sure her shirt was tucked in before she knocked, she knew well enough that she could just enter, she did have a key after all, but this wasn’t one of those times she was here just to come in and take care of Carter in his own home.

In fact, she was here to take him with her while Cat and Asher managed through whatever holiday extravaganza they had planned for the remaining week and into its end. Or whatever it was Cat had intended or planned given their last encounter concerning cookies and false implications.

What she hadn’t expected was the latter of the two parents to answer the door, nor the sound of Carter crying just beyond him.

“Oh finally.” The man replied, causing Kara to frown, she had expecting Cat to greet her, for Cat to leave her son with Kara, for Cat to be handling this entire situation like she initially agreed and found herself rather disappointed that she wasn’t.

“I’m..sorry?”

He leaned back inside a moment, pulling a bag over his shoulder from the ground and around himself, making sure to keep his fair distance from the woman on the landing even as he started to edge his way out of the house.

“Cat said you’d be here around now, he’s been screaming ever since she left and I’m going to be late so, just get what you need and lock up and enjoy the weekend with him. You have her numbers -” There was a horn honk from across the street, pulling both of their attention, Kara could easily make out the younger woman in the sports car across the way waving.

Kara glanced back to the man a second after and he gave an almost smarmy smile moving past her with ease and a wide berth.

“When one door closes.” He muttered under his breath while she tracked him a moment brow furrowing as he continued on, walking backward.

“If she asks, I left with our other driver.” He murmured something about her, meaning Cat, not asking as he crossed the street and slipped into the car before it peeled away leaving Kara and an open door and a screaming Carter in its wake.

Kara was quick to get inside, phone already in hand as she called her sister to tell her about her current predicament and what all else she was going to do before she made it back home and if mom or the others beat her back to just explain what was going on.

That settled, she had Carter up and in her arms next, bouncing and soothing him until he was tucked and nestled into the crook of her chin, her heart beating against his ear while she gathered enough of his things for a little over a week just in case, and had her phone out again.

“Austin, yeah, no I’m at, right. Do you know where she…” Kara listened carefully for a moment, a dark sigh escaping her as she shook her head. “I’ll be ready when you get here, then I need you to do me a favor.”

Kara looked up at the high rise building, trying to imagine Cat’s logo or the designs she had seen in her office at least, topping it’s highest point for all of National City to see. The looming for sale or lease banner fluttering across ten stories at least. Cat had been right about the balconies, even if she hadn’t actually been talking to Kara about it at the time, and was instead on the phone with a broker, the way they overlooked the city was not unlike some kind of castle wall overlooking a kingdom.

The car rounded its way across National City, just outside of the square before it came to a stop in the rear of the Tribune building. It was hardly the towering structure the high rise corporate building in the heart of the city was but it held its own, especially with the buildings surrounding it. Austin had merely guessed his boss was still there, on the top floor, closed away in her office despite the surrounding holiday while everyone else who had things to do was gone and others prattled about the city caught up in the time of the season.

Of course, if she wasn’t here, it was possible she was at one of her other buildings, maybe the radio station or perhaps the small television outlet she was still shopping around, but none of them had the office or the overlook that the Tribune did. If Kara knew anything about her time around Cat Grant, it was that she liked to climb high and look over the city like her namesake.

“You don’t have to wait. You’ve done enough, and I don’t want her to know how much you helped.”

“She needs people like you y’know.” Cat’s driver supplied, making Kara’s chest feel heavy and at the same time weightless.

“And you. If she’s not here I’ll take a cab, but you should be home.”

“It’s no trouble Miss Kara, I can sit right here-”

“Austin, for one I’m no miss I’m just Kara, for two it’s the night before Christmas Eve, I know you have a wife and a little one waiting and they’re going to remember this one cause she’s old enough to.”

“And she wouldn’t have half of what she’s going to remember if it weren’t for that woman on the top floor. I’m going to stay right here, for you or for her, I mean it when I say she needs people like you and if I can help provide that in some way...” He let his words drift, the intensity behind them was something Kara hadn’t been prepared for and she felt its weight resonate in her chest while the man’s aura relayed his gratitude just as fiercely.

Kara let out a hard sigh giving a nod and acquiescing herself to his side of things before looking back up to where she knew Cat was, were she anything else but Kryptonian she would have to test her willpower and ambition and hope without knowing that the woman was there. Apparently, there was something to be said for x-ray vision, even in this current situation.

She adjusted her glasses, the lead-lined glass sealing her abilities away without effort as she blinked to ease the strain of her vision into acceptance before she shut the car door and made her way inside the building.

With little effort, she made it through security, her visitor badge in place and the elevator rather calming in its vacancy. What she hadn’t expected was the lack of noise upon the elevator’s opening. Granted her impressions of most newsrooms and offices were rather dramatized on television but she suspected it did come from some element of truth.

Presently she was looking at an empty floor, the majority of cubicles vacant and having been for hours minimum. There were a few stragglers in far parts and distance corners but nothing compared to the tightly packed capacity the room held on a regular basis. Kara looked around even further, realizing what a madhouse of noise and motion and excitement this floor alone probably was given its proximity to Cat as the CEO and final editor.

And that was without any kind of world-shattering news filtering through it.

As Kara continued through the shoulder width channels of the office space she took note of the faint din of noise, easily recognizing the call sigh as Cat’s newest acquisition in the local radio station. Some woman named Leslie, who had just broken out of some small town of nowhere, was going over random news bits befitting the season and last minute shopping madness with her own veiled and hesitant opinions.

Kara smirked as she mispronounced a word and carried on about it for another few seconds before cutting to holiday music. It was then she heard the bark of Cat’s voice, granted it was behind glass and through barriers of thinly carpeted office cubicle walls but it was there. With the slightest adjustment, she chewed on her lip, realizing she was talking to the executive producer currently handling Leslie.

“If I wanted a bimbo for a radio spot I would’ve hired an actress to play one opposite her male host. Tell her to ditch the Mayberry weather doll and own, her, place.”

Kara was at the threshold by the time Cat hung up the phone, the receiver ringing from the force applied to it before Cat plucked a red pen from the stack and scratched through whatever article was in front of her.

She pulled in a deep breath and knocked on the frame, bracing herself for impact. She realized all too late showing up like this, especially without Carter might send Cat into a panic and almost wished she had had the foresight to have called first or let security relay to the woman clawing away at someone’s work that her nanny was on the way.

“I said before I don’t want any. Get out of here and go-” She looked up then, glasses yanked from her features so as not to obscure her glare only to leave her almost dumbstruck and then stiff with an edge of panic as she made to stand up.

Kara winced internally at the shift in Cat’s features and held up a hand, barreling through anything Cat might start to question of her with her voice and entering her office in a rush.

“Carter’s fine, everything’s fine.”

Cat let out a breath, catching herself in her vulnerability before the edge of a sneer turned her lips while her gaze leveled on Kara.

“Everything is not fine if you’re here, alone. Without my son.”

“He’s fine, more than. He’s with my family and being well looked after.” Cat shifted her jaw eyeing Kara from where she stood. The pair of them lingered in one another’s gaze until Cat actually sat back in her chair.

Kara let out another sigh of an exhale, blinking her gaze first before turning and closing Cat’s office door. Not that she was worried about anything she had to say at the moment, especially with the lack of others around their space but it seemed like the courteous thing to do considering this was a personal matter.

“I take it Asher was-”

“Not you.”

“Excuse me?”

“He wasn’t you. I was expecting you, you told me to come and get Carter from you.”

“I had work-”

“He was screaming Cat.”

Cat swallowed visibly, eyeing Kara a moment and taking note of her finer point of clothes and attention to actually looking like an adult instead of playing at one. She knew why she wasn’t there to hand Carter off to Kara, knew with yet another fight she and Asher had that it was far safer for her to leave.

Kara’s words cut into her, but her tone, the genuine nature of it concerning Carter went to the bone. Never once had Asher done anything that she would have considered harmful or detrimental towards her son, and yet, leaving him to cry and wail and as Kara pointed out painfully, scream made her realize how disconnected she had let herself become once again.

“Is,” she swallowed thickly, giving a small sound to the clearing of her throat and the haze she felt trying to strangle her there. “Was Carter-”

“He’s alright like I told you. He’ll be better by the time I get back to him and he’ll be great on Christmas morning just in time for you.” Kara tried to keep her words from overrunning her mind, tried to rein herself in but she couldn’t.

Cat sat back in her chair looking at the other woman, her expression becoming a void though her eyes burned enough for Kara to feel down to her very soul. Her hands were over her mouth a second later, eyes wide and what was visible in her expression read somewhere between absolute mortification and fear.

“Miss Grant.” Kara managed around her fingers where they slid a few inches down her face. “I. I don’t. I didn’t mean-”

“You did.” Cat allowed in a calm and low tone, too calm and too low for Kara to feel anything but unnerved over.

“I’m so sorry.”

“So am I.”

Kara’s hands fell to the flat of her chest, the weight of Cat’s words hitting her like some kind of wrecking ball to her gut.

“Why did you come here?” Cat continued to stare at her, the tone remaining as she watched Kara’s fingers flex and her knuckles turn white in their effort to cling to something to grant her some kind of safe harbor.

“Why..what?”

“Why, when you could have called when you could have simply left a message when you could have done any multitude of other things. Why did you take the time, to take my son, make sure he was more than alright, and then despite the fact that you have a full house waiting for you, come here? Was it just to tell me all this? I have no doubt there’s more that you just haven’t revealed yet, like where my wayward husband has gotten off to and what he asked you to say.”

Kara looked even more struck, her jaw flexing and that same sense of righteous anger coiling at her insides enough to be made visible. It made Cat shift further in her seat as she watched it drape over Kara like a blanket and seep into her very being like the heat from the sun.

“According to him, he left with the other driver.”

Cat rose a brow slightly, Kara’s words seeming to have no other effect on her.

“And according to you?”

Kara shifted her jaw, her hands curling into a single fist across the plain of her chest. “He left with a, a demimondaine.” It was the politest word she could think of, despite how ridiculously out of character and date it was.

Kara had no way of knowing who or what that other woman in the flashy car was that Asher went off with, nor was she wanting to judge the situation. For all she knew this was an agreed thing between him and Cat and she was just caught in the middle somewhere between a very grand misunderstanding and some moral sense of protective righteousness she had. She owed Cat nothing, she owed Asher nothing, she could easily find a job somewhere else with far less pay and even farther drama to contend with.

But Carter wouldn’t be a part of her life anymore. Try as she might, it was very easy to get attached to him, be it how he reminded her of her cousin and all that she had been tasked with as a much younger person and seemingly failed at achieving it, even if everyone around her told her otherwise. Every day for nearly three months had been spent with him, from right after she woke up until she trudged up the steps to her apartment and went to sleep.

Cat looked minimally impressed, but the moment was fleeting and her eyes took on a sharper intensity as they continued to burn into Kara’s frame.

“I figured as much.” Cat bit back the rest of her statement, chewed on the warning she had given Asher, swallowed the poison she willingly allowed to fill her heart with her and Asher's new arrangement. It was a small price, at least for her. Something she deserved or thought she deserved, for everything she had put them all through up to now.

“I expected him to have more of a grace period, though you make it sound as if he actually might have had some class in the matter.”

Kara swallowed visibly again, clamping down on her jaw to keep it shut. She had been nice once concerning the other woman’s husband and his blatant disregard for all the things he had even if it wasn’t great it was far more than she could ever remember having. It was going to take far more than being nice to say something even remotely positive concerning the situation at present and as a result, she gave Cat a minute shake of her head in response.

Cat shifted in her seat then, clearly crossing her legs over one another as she settled further into her chair, hands coming to fold across her lap as she looked at Kara.

“Why did you come here then, Kara?”

Kara wasn’t sure what to do, or what to say or how to even feel anymore. Especially with the way Cat spoke her name without error. She felt lost and at the same time eager to defend… something. What, she didn’t know, but the intention of it was rooted deep in her chest. She thought about herself again, how any other job would be far less dramatic, far less involving, far less exhausting and internally contemplative. She could work three jobs and still manage to take care of herself and her sister without another ounce of drama in her life on this level.

Cat wouldn’t be in her life either, a voice far deep in the back of her mind responded unbiddenly and it made her fists clench tighter. There was something about Cat that had instantly drawn Kara to her, beyond the fact she was Carter’s mother, it was baffling, to say the least, and Kara had tried far too hard to ignore the nagging voice or twinge of her senses the other woman caused until it was all too late.

Like now. She couldn’t help but feel the beat of Cat’s heart despite her calm exterior thrashing away inside the cage of her ribs or watch the way her aura swirled like fire across the edges and cooled by the veil of far heavier and much sadder emotions out of nowhere. It made her want to chase those things away, to see Cat out from under the self-oppressive thumb she held herself against all the time.

Austin’s words rung in her mind again, about how much Cat had helped him, without details Kara knew by his tone and vehemence to try and get her to understand why he would wait despite the day and time and his own family waiting at home for him, it wasn’t about money.

It was something else.

As she stood there, fists against her chest with this impossible woman staring her down expectantly waiting for an answer, it struck her. Quick as lightning, her mind wrapped itself around the why of Cat working here, alone, in a glass cage with an entire building vacant where otherwise it would be crawling with noise and life; beating furiously like some kind of well-oiled machine despite the chaos it no doubt looked like from an outside observer.

“To invite you over for Christmas dinner.” The words were out of her mouth with the same instantaneousness as the revelation of Cat’s presence here.

Cat couldn’t have predicted those words falling out of Kara’s mouth nor the genuine sentimentality behind them despite the tense air filling her office space. Her lips parted in surprise but nothing came out in response and as a result, Kara stepped closer, hands smoothing down her stomach before landing somewhere around her sides.

Kara’s fingers toyed with the seam of her pants and she swallowed harder when Cat didn’t respond, tucking her bottom lip inward as she gave a small series of nods mostly to herself. She moved slightly, turning to the side and then back before making the proper decision and turning around fully, disjointedly pulling the door open and slipping out. She stood just outside of Cat’s office before seeming to square her shoulders and make her way through the office space back towards the hallway where the bank of elevators were.

Kara nearly walked through the elevator door once she reached it, discombobulated and wound up and already internally chastising herself for not staying and just bolting instead of forcing Cat to respond. A part of her wondered if she would ever have that ability. To stand or sit and stare at someone until they were reduced to base human responses.

Somewhere she thought she heard her name but didn’t turn, feeling as if it was just her mind playing tricks on her as the elevator allowed her inside and she stumbled into the car and leaned into the back of it. Using the handrail as a brace to try to figure out how to breathe again and wonder how she was going to work inside this woman’s house after next week and if she even had a job after this weekend.

Kara heard a noise and looked up seeing Cat striding towards her only to have the doors seal her inside the elevator before she could reach up to stop them. Anything she might have said died in her throat and all she could do was let out a slightly frustrated huff around a string of Kryptonian curses at how much worse this was becoming.

Until the doors opened again revealing Cat in her full regalia somewhere between annoyed, dumbstruck and Kara could almost swear amusement. Kara was the picture of confusion herself, looking around the car and wondering how in the world the other woman had either managed to levitate through floors or called the elevator back up.

“You have to actually press a floor in order for it to go anywhere, Kiera.”

Kara’s cheeks flushed as she realized that she had never pushed the button upon entering.

“Why…”

“Why?”

“Why did you ask?”

Kara swallowed uncomfortably, licking her lips which still felt dry as she tried to come up with a better answer than the first one that poised itself in her throat. The truth was a funny thing that way. She tried to form other words against the fretful churn of her insides but couldn’t find any other than the first that formed while her mind went blank.

“It felt wrong not to.”

All amusement drained from Cat with the statement and the brutal honesty that came out with it. Again she was left on the precipice of uncertainty with this infuriatingly simple woman who calmed her nerves and reminded her of an ache she had thought she buried well before this point in her life and just like that the elevator closed again

Only this time the doors didn’t open again to reveal either woman to one another as Kara made sure in her flustered state to press the button for the first floor.


	4. The Eve Before Christmas Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carter meets all of Kara's family while someone from Cat's past accepts an invitation towards a different kind of future

Kara let out a deep breath mentally preparing herself as she stood just outside the door trying to let the tension and uncertainty and all manner of emotions to drain from her body before she went into her sanctuary of an apartment that she shared with her sister so as not to infect the place with all this incomprehensible emotion.

Just as she reached for the door handle it opened, eased open just enough by Eliza who offered her a gentle half smile as she leaned against the door jam. Already Kara could hear the musings and laughter behind the older woman and knew without even trying to pinpoint the reason that it was because of Carter.

“We only get him for the weekend?” Eliza questioned, causing Kara to smile her own gentle smile as the last bit of weight from everything prior to now slipped off her shoulders and away.

“Maybe less than that.”

“Too bad, he’s really smart. The way your sister is with him gives me hope.”

Kara raised a brow and Eliza only grinned a bit.

“Grandkids.”

“Really, she just graduated and-”

“Mother’s think these things ok?” Eliza opened the door further, letting Kara slip past her before she shut the apartment and locked them all away. “Besides you’re the one who brought him in, don’t think you’re excluded from that thought either.”

“Seriously..”

“Kare-Bear!” Jeremiah’s voice was a boom from his place on the floor smooshed into the ground by Carter’s weight. Alex and Clark were on the floor as well, half hidden behind furniture and clearly intending on popping out for Carter’s benefit. Aunt Martha and Uncle Jon were in the kitchen all smiles nestled around one another as they watched Carter play about with their son, his cousin, and Jeremiah.

With her foster father’s herald, everyone was alerted to her and the warmth and comfort of their greetings filled her up and chased away the uncertainty still trying to claw at her insides concerning Cat. Eliza hung her coat and her bag while Carter twisted and squealed, arms up and hands grabbing thin air.

“Mama!”

Kara ignored the sentiment and the looks shared by those in the room with her as she zoomed over to him and scooped him up under his arms, plucking him from Jeremiah’s chest and hauling him into the air around peals of laughter.

“Noo! Karasaur!” She tried to correct, thinking if perhaps she likened herself along with one of his dinosaurs he would stop calling her mama.

He kicked and giggled, easily wrapping around her when she brought him back down and hugged him close and tight.

“Have you been good?” She questioned, his little voice breaking past her neck into her hair as he hugged her and laid his head on her shoulder.

“Goods nuff to eat.” Kara grinned and pulled back a bit looking at him carefully.

“To eat?! Oh noes. Who’s going to eat you?”

Just then Clark jumped out then with a roar of a sound-causing Carter to giggle and laugh all over again.

“Me!” Her cousin made like he was some kind of large creature, most likely a T-Rex by the state of his arms tucked by his chest and the lizard-like movements he made around his older cousin trying to nip or catch Carter’s hands.

“And me!” Alex was next, jumping over the couch and nosing at Carter’s back before tickling him mercilessly.

“Halp mama halp!” Carter tried, twisting and giggling and pushing his shoulders up into his neck where he was tickled and poked.

“Oh, noes! What’re we gonna do!? How’re we gonna get free?!” Kara pretended to pull and guide him away, and up and over and upside down and around until he was reduced to nothing but laughs and dead weight as she playfully dropped him onto the couch cushions and mimicked her sister and cousin with a roar of her own and tickled him mercilessly.

“Sta-hahahahaaa-hp!” Carter giggled and squealed as Kara continued to tickle him until he could hardly breathe before she hoisted him back up and sat him on her tummy as she laid back out on the couch.

Kara was all grins and chuckles, watching Carter come down from his tickle high, the earlier parts of her day all but forgotten.

Alex and Clark were quick to retreat to the other room, something about a project Alex was working on for her residency and if Clark wanted to see it. Their parents were in Kara’s kitchen then, Jonathan and Martha had not really moved while Jeremiah and Eliza leaned against the island while both watching Kara and her newest friend and passively ensuring what was being warmed up for dinner tonight wasn’t going to burn.

“Where Mommy?” Carter questioned, scooting until he was seated on Kara’s solar plexus and able to look down at her without leaning too far over to one side while she kept a firm hold of him.

Kara let the corner of her mouth lift in a melancholy fashion, shifting slightly until she was propped up a little more and not holding herself up. “Mommy was very busy, doing really important things buddy.”

“Mommy come later?”

Kara gave a shrug. “Dunno. Maybe?”

Carter rocked as he nodded, seeming to understand even if Kara was glad he didn’t. She pulled in a deeper breath then, opening her arms up like a hug. He grinned with a small laugh letting his whole weight topple him forward as he thumped into her body and hugged her as tightly as he could.

Kara wrapped her arms around him in a protective cross, securing him in her grasp while still capable of touching the opposite side of her ribs with her fingertips.

“Mama warm,” Carter spoke lazily, which only made Kara smile more. To be able to go from completely wired and high strung with laughter to dog tired was a luxury she wished she could remember.

“Karasuar buddy..” She corrected, nestling down into the cushions and letting her eyes drift closed as she listened to his tiny heartbeat against her chest and the soft rush of air from each exhale as it moved past her neck and into her hair.

“Mama.” He argued, the rest of his words slipping away as he promptly passed out across her.

“You don’t think she’s getting too attached?” Martha questioned around a sip of her wine as she looked away from the picturesque vision of Kara with Carter passed out together on the couch to Eliza.

Jeremiah started to say something but Eliza soothed him easily with a hand against his lower back that she disguised as a simple hug into his side.

“She’s a nanny, she’s always going to get attached. She’s done so ever since-”

“She gave up Clark to us.” Jonathan finished, glancing at Jeremiah with a small nod then back to Eliza. “For her, that is more than we can ever fathom.”

“Nor should we try,” Jeremiah added while Martha let out a gentle sigh with a nod.

“I know, and I’m not, I’m sorry how that sounded but I worry about her so much, as I’m sure you both do too, far more than I. Clark’s had it far easier by comparison and the way he and Alex have grown up around each other, I don’t want her to get hurt. She puts so much of herself into everything she does.”

Eliza reached over then, giving Martha’s hand a firm squeeze. “I know, and I’m forever thankful the both of you were on that road that day.” She looked back to Kara’s sleeping form, knowing if she wanted she could hear them all, but given how her features were still and beyond relaxed she knew there wasn’t a conscious chance of that occurring. At least not right this moment.

Martha gave Eliza’s hand a firm squeeze back before Jonathan’s hand covered the both of theirs causing the two women to look at him.

“We’re all their family and each others. If nothing else right now is a time to remember that, and if that means we get this little guy to be a part of it and it makes her and the rest of them happy, not to mention us. Let’s just live in the moment of it, worry about the rest later.”

Jeremiah smirked, setting his glass between the four of them. “To chosen family.” He offered, letting each of them clink away before they took their respective drinks and settled into the space they were in. “Let’s get to work on all this before the other two come in and eat us out of the kitchen before we have a chance to ask what happened.”

Meanwhile across the country, tucked into a high rise condo and littered with Christmas decorations one Lois Lane stood on her balcony, wine glass in hand, sparkling apple cider swirling about in it while the din of her family hummed behind her. She took another sip of the effervescent beverage while everyone inside rejoiced at her baby sister’s acceptance into a law program that was willing to let her finish her bachelor’s degree while interning.

She had always figured Lucy for kids before herself, even their older sister had three already and if the timing was right she guessed the next family announcement would be a fourth to add to her ever-growing compliment. Little did she know how backward that would all be, with Lois, the middle child having a four-year-old before any one of them could blink.

“Everything ok Momma?” Even at fourteen, he refused to call her anything but, Adam’s voice pulled her mouth into a smile and she turned to him, relishing in the warmth of the hug he let her pull him into.

“Of course my little bear.” He was nearly as tall as she was now, and undoubtedly would be taller in a few years or less. “Just needed a breather what with all your cousins and you know how your grandfather can get all loud and boisterous and militant. I just needed some fresh air.”

Adam was far smarter than he allowed people to realize and Lois was usually the first person to realize just how smart all too late. She leaned back into the railing of the balcony as he eyed her one more time, knowing something was going on but wasn’t sure if it was something concerning their family here tonight or something else she just wasn’t apt to reveal yet.

“No secrets right?”

“Right, unless they involve Christmas presents.”

Adam grinned and Lois mirrored it before nodding towards the living room where everyone else was. “I’ll be in in a minute.”

“K Momma.”

Lois watched him go, her smile remaining even as he got wrangled into proving to his grandfather he was just as strong as Lucy if not more and proceeded to pick his holder but much shorter aunt up effortlessly.

While everyone else became enraptured with the amused hollers and playful flailing about Lois turned her attention to the small card in hand. It had come with a flower delivery earlier in the day, from a particular city that made her heart pound mercilessly in her chest. There was always that fear in the back of her mind, that nagging possibility that Cat would come to some kind of confused sense of motherly duty and fight for Adam all over again.

Their breakup had been devastating enough, even if Lois’ heart had been in it for all the wrong reasons. Even if she hadn’t realized that until far too little too late. The fact she got sole custody of Adam with another surprise she hadn’t ever honestly considered what now felt like ages ago. Somewhere deep down she knew the only reason or assumed the only reason why was because Cat had stopped fighting, had given in or given up for all manner of reasons that were anything but her own.

Lois always assumed they could part amicably, that Cat was only theorizing moving halfway across what felt like the world, that it was a farce of sorts that Cat never felt she belonged in the great city that Metropolis was for both of them.

Little did Lois know how wrong she was, how Cat’s ambition, which had drawn Lois to her in the first place, was even more far-reaching than Lois’ ever could have anticipated. Maybe it was fate, to wind up with a son who was biologically not her own but was indeed the first reason she and Cat had even met, and ended up being a reason why Lois stayed, even when she fell out of love with the other woman.

However every year that passed was another year he was older, another year she contemplated if she allowed herself to think too long and too hard that this might be the moment when her little bear of a prince would be taken to a real kingdom. Built on power and ambition and copious amounts of elite connections and above all money.

Lois was still a reporter, after all, she’d been nominated for many an award in her tenure, even won a few. Garnered worldwide recognition on various discoveries, scandals and any manner of happenings in the world but she had never tried to convince herself she was above any of that. That she needed to be anything other than what she felt she was truly, honestly good at.

Whereas Cat was always looking up, Lois was always looking ahead and in the end, it served them both accordingly.

It also served as the greatest flaw between the both of them, the driving force of a wedge that even now she wasn’t sure could ever really be repaired, despite how hard she tried for Adam’s sake.

His mother was not completely devoid from his life, in fact, she sent the obligatory birthday card but always addressed it to Lois, leaving her to make the choice and decisions concerning Adam’s well being. She had sent notification of his bank account she had set up, of the trust fund and college fund and legal documentation that he was entitled to, be it all, part or none of it by the time he was eighteen at the decision of his mother.

Cat herself had already signed over all documentation and approval of said monies, bonds, and trusts and once again left Lois holding the weight behind it all.

Lois had never longed for much herself, granted things were tighter when they were smaller and they moved around a lot due to her father’s station but once his rank lifted they became more settled. There was something else entirely to be considered for turning eighteen and suddenly becoming instantaneously wealthy with any choice of college or trade or occupation or whatever he could even think to desire all with the ticking of the seconds counting down to his birthday.

This moment, however, was not that moment, she had time yet, plenty of it actually until she recalled just how fast time passed, how quickly she had become a single mother was nothing by comparison to how quickly that little boy seemed to grow up in front of her. She glanced back inside again, her smile pulling at the corners of her mouth as her son was dogpiled upon by his cousins and even his aunt before she looked back to the card.

It was anything but Cat’s handwriting on it, and a part of Lois wondered if Cat had indeed found some measure of happiness with whomever it was that was contacting her now so openly. Then again she wondered if Cat even knew while another part couldn’t bother to care one way or another. It was Christmas, and it was some kind of whatever all things considered and maybe, just maybe, whoever this was nudging her along to consider something that prior to now she would have thought impossible, was also nudging Cat in a similar fashion.

Lois took another mouthful of her drink, pulling the cider from her lips with the edge of her tongue as she thumbed the card.

“Alright universe, you’re making a point, let’s see if you’re gonna make it stick or close this all out once and for all.”


	5. Christmas Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone takes a shot at playing Santa Claus to very unexpected results

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12/17/2017 Minor edits

Kara looked at her watch for the upteenth time, she had finished her Christmas shopping for her family and the few acquaintances she felt the desire to get something for well before now. Then again it was their tradition, ever since she and Clark had become a part of both the Danvers and Kent families, Christmas Eve shopping. It was always busy and noisy and boisterous and ridiculous but in its own way it was fun and brought them all together even when half the time they were spending the holidays at either homestead every other year.

It was the one thing that both families had agreed upon to try and normalize something as far as the pair of alien outsiders went while still making them feel welcome and a part of a greater whole of a family, even if it wasn’t their own.

Now it wasn’t as if she were bored or ready to leave, but Kara had meant to ask her mother and Aunt Martha what might be considered a good gift for someone such as Cat. She knew enough, or so she thought, that really all she had to do was make Carter happy and it would inevitably rub off on his mother.

Kara could also argue that taking Carter for the busier part of the holiday given all that seemed to be occurring at the Ellison-Grant household with Carter’s parents might have also served as present enough. But for Kara the feeling that she needed to give something a little more personal, a little more specific, kept nagging at her insides.

A small squeal followed by giggles pulled Kara out of her thoughts taking her attention back down to the stroller and the little man belted into it. Presently he was kicking about, stuffed dinosaur toy in hand while pointing with the other.

“Wed! Santasaurus!” He tried to scoot forward, causing the stroller to bounce in the direction of his excitement before Kara came around and blocked his view.

“Sup buddy?”

Carter spoke in a string of gibberish and excitement before pointing past her and saying the color all over again. From her place Kara turned, following his eyes to the display at the center junction of the mall and the very large very red sleigh set up around what was normally the water fountains and general waiting area.

To say it was lit up like a Christmas tree would be an understatement. The massive fountains themselves were turned off, their interior lights changed to an icy blue as styrofoam blocks of glacier ice were left to float about in them where pennies would otherwise be tossed and wished upon. The whole thing was framed by Christmas trees and oversized presents, decked with lights, baubles and tinsel all leading to a massive red sleigh.

At the line were eight reindeer, generic and lifelike, their animatronic ear flicks and tail shakes pulling the awe of most of the children waiting with exasperated parents. The ninth of course was alone, near enough to touch, nose glowing a bright red as he pawed at the ground on occasion and tossed his head and antlers about as if he were ready and raring to go.

The line itself was blanketed with translucent fabric, stretched over oversized candy cane archways, littered with holly and thistle and woven together in a braid of warm lights all weaving around and leading to the man of the hour, Santa Claus.

Kara hadn’t checked to see how good this one was, though given the line, he was either substantial or it was merely a result of last minute picture taking that it didn’t matter. She glanced at her watch one more time, realizing it had only been about ten minutes since her and the entirety of the family had split up to do their own things; at least for the next hour until they could meet up eat and split apart again.

“You wanna go see Santa?”

Carter clapped and giggled, giving a repeated series of nods.

“It’s a bit late, you sure you wanna ask him for one more thing? He’s gonna be super busy tonight.” Kara cautioned, not sure what Carter might ask or if she could even relay it to Cat in time were she of need to in order to ensure he got what he requested. It was a fine line she was walking anyway, although she had noticed previous pictures of him with Santa in one of Cat’s photo albums but nothing from this year.

She would know, given she would have been the one undoubtedly to take him at Cat’s request. A part of her wondered if the woman had spaced it, all things considered, or if it were something else entirely. Even she and Alex had taken a photo with Santa to send their parents this year and when Kara thought about it instinctively, her mind had already been made up the moment Carter likened the jolly figure to a dinosaur.

 

**\-------**

 

Cat was quietly stalking through the bullpen just outside her office at The Tribune, file folder of articles in hand, editing pen in place as she wandered and wove her way through the vacancy of the office until a small ding of a noise pulled her attention.

With a slight frown she turned, looking expectantly towards the mouth of the hall leading to the elevators until she saw Carr rounding his way around the corner making a beeline for his office. He clearly had no idea where she was in relation to him, which was made further evident by how greatly he startled when she spoke his name at the mouth of the tiny glass closet of a thing he stood in presently.

“OH my god. Cat, you're going to kill me sneaking up like that.” He swore under his breath, adjusting his glasses before sending a perturbed look her way. The two made an interesting pair. He was the new assistant editor in chief, by her appointment, and given his current state of dedication she knew her choice had been the right one for the position. If everything shook out well enough, she had every intention of leaving him in charge of The Tribune while turning her focus on larger endeavors.

He was rough and most people likened him to an inconsiderate asshole, but underneath the bristle of his personality was one of the best reporters she had run across in her tenure in the business of relaying the news. She had assumed his divorce had been a greater deciding factor to his relocation, only to find that while it had served as part of his reason for moving across the country with her, the other was showing itself quite plainly in his level of ambition that otherwise would have been wasted in Metropolis.

At present his dogged determination, not to mention his methods and execution of his final products, had earned him a place in the hierarchy of her ever growing empire. Right now however she had assumed he would be at the bottom of a glass, tucked away in some darkened old world feeling bar, the kind with dark wood and even darker patrons. Not saddling up to his desk and the minute stack of articles that weren't even set for this year to review.

“I didn't sneak.”

“My ass.”

She threw him a look and shifted her jaw, setting a hand on her hip as he seemed to settle further into his chair, article after article spreading out like a deck of cards on the surface of his desk.

“Working or running?”

“Working.”

Cat nodded slowly, taking him in before setting her own folder on his desk with a small slap causing him to blink up at her.

“Yes?”

“Whiskey or bourbon?”

He straightened slightly, his interest piqued as he glanced over the paperwork in front of him then back to the woman across from him.

“Whiskey, neat.”

Cat tipped her head towards her office as a sort of 'c'mon' gesture before gathering her file and slipping out of his space and into hers. There was more room by far, just as much glass but far more comfortable furniture to settle into. She was already closing the doors to her small bar, half hidden in a bookshelf as she filled two glasses, leaving one on the coaster at the end of her desk and keeping the other for herself.

She waited until she heard him, offering her glass out to the side minutely before feeling the weighted clink of the two cups coming together before savoring the first sip. She rounded her desk easily, settling into her chair effortlessly while Snapper remained standing, wincing away the burn of his drink.

“What're you doing here anyway?” He questioned without hesitation, it was another quirk the man possessed. He never once held his tongue and was rarely hesitant to speak his mind, especially when it came to her.

“I'm the boss.”

“Which usually entails that you be off and away soaking up the benefits of everyone else's hard work.”

“Must not've gotten the memo this year.”

“Funny.”

He glanced to the window, taking note of the bustling city below and all the last minute brouhaha that the vast majority of National City, as well as every other city, was wrapped up in before taking another sip and drifting into a much more comfortable chair than he possessed in his office.

“Seriously, why're you here Cat?” His tone was quieter than a moment ago, and far more forgiving in its inquisition.

“Someone has to be so the rest of you can enjoy it.”

Snapper let out a huff through his nose, his mouth turning in a distasteful expression before he took another sip of his whiskey. “After all the fuss you made about no party or major office decor, you're telling me you're here so everyone else can have the holiday to themselves?”

Cat was in the middle of her own sip before swallowing it away with a gentle hiss, turning the glass in her hand over to observe the liquid and ice within it before looking back to the man.

“Not everyone in my office celebrates the season with the same intensity of the Judaeo-christian sentiment you know.”

“So your excuse is that you're being an equal opportunity employer with a healthy respect for religion and personal holiday practices?”

Cat rose a brow at him remaining silent.

“I'm just trying to come up with a by-line. CEO demands equal holiday enjoyment, spends holiday in solitude so her employees don't have to.”

“Shut up and drink your bonus.”

Snapper actually smirked, merely lifting his glass in silent toast to the woman while she rolled her eyes and shook her head, relishing in their little moment until the shrill cry of her phone broke it all to pieces.

By the time Kara and her family were done with their shopping they had needed two van sized taxis to cart everything and everyone home. While Kara had been expecting that to some degree, as it tended to happen every year, what she hadn't expected was to see a familiar vehicle parked and waiting at the curb just outside her apartment.

“Kara?” Her mother was quick to question her expression, all of the adults having noticed the expensive luxury SUV and the man standing outside it despite the weather. Even if it was rather mild by comparison to other places, it was still winter and Christmas Eve.

Kara shook her head, ushering Carter to her other hip before handing him off to Alex who was there in the next heartbeat.

“Maybe she wants to take him home early.” Kara responded, excusing herself from her family as she made her way to Austin.

“Have you been here long?”

“Not something you should really worry about don't you think Miss Kara?”

“Just, Kara.” She allowed, looking towards the windows of the car beside him but given the dark tint couldn't make out of Cat was in there or not. “Is there-”

“No, unless you consider keeping the little prince a little longer than expected.”

Kara's brow furrowed as Austin drew out a small card, offering it up to the woman before resuming his at ease stance.

She opened it up easily, scanning over Cat's handwriting before straightening up a bit in slight shock looking back to the car then over to Austin.

“Is she serious?”

Austin nodded a few times over. “I'm technically supposed to be picking the other woman up but,” he smiled in such a manner as if he were relishing in the notion that he was far later than he should be in order to carry out that request. “This was far more important.”

“Kara what's going on?” Jeremiah was gentle in his inquiry, not wanting to come off as brutish or protective but he had seen Kara's posture and knew it had something to do with her current boss and undoubtedly some kind of unusual demand.

“Ca..er..Miss Grant, she, her mother's coming unexpectedly and she apologizes but wants me to keep Carter until after tomorrow or so when she leaves?”

Jeremiah tipped his head slightly, Clark was easily helping his parents and Eliza get their things into the lobby of the girl's apartment while Alex bounced Carter in the background, all the while each of them made sure to keep within some kind of earshot of Kara and whatever situation was presenting itself.

“Is there another problem? You look more shocked than you should with that I think.”

Kara merely pointed to the car. “It's full.”

“What?”

“The car, it's full.”

“Meaning?”

“If I may?” Austin interjected causing the two to look at him before Kara nodded. With that settled he stepped over, lifting up the rear lift door to reveal exactly what Kara had already stated. It was full.

“Whoa.”

Kara nodded slowly at her father's sentiment.

“Is this all for-”

“Carter.” Kara finished.

“Oh no, not just Carter.” Austin amended causing the two Danvers' to look at him. “She made sure for the inconvenience that you all had something.”

“You can not, she, but, no. No I can't, we can't.”

Austin gave Kara a knowing look. “Trust me, you can try as hard as you want to do whatever you think you can until you exhaust yourself, she won't take them back and she won't take no for an answer.”

“All that, is for him, and us?”

Austin gave Jeremiah a nod before watching him look to Kara just as Eliza came to stand between the both of them.

“Curiosity is going to kill the rest of them, what's going on?”

“That's all for us and Carter, her boss is apparently going to be unavailable until she's not.”

Eliza rose a high brow, looking at all the wrapped presents filling the car then to Austin then up to the fourth floor of her daughter's apartment and then back down.

“Standing around and gawking isn't going to help any of us. Let's get all this inside and we'll get it sorted out.”

Kara nodded, looking back to the card in her hand one more time before a box was offered to her to take up.

With the whole of the Danvers-Kent clan not to mention Austin making up the difference for Alex being preoccupied with Carter they made short work of the plethora of gifts Cat had sent their way. Indeed the majority of them were for Carter, labeled accordingly and even marked with ones that could be 'unwrapped' and left as presents from Santa. Those were in simple brown paper wrapping, while the rest were labeled for each member of her family, as well as herself.

Near twenty minutes later and Kara was again outside with Austin, closing up the car as he settled into the driver seat.

“Yes Miss Kara?”

“Are you on your way to pick her up?”

“Which one?”

Kara smirked letting out a small, playfully exasperated sigh. “Cat.”

“Yes, her first then her mother, who apparently has been at the airport waiting for nearly an hour now.” That same smile from earlier was back and she made a note to ask him about Cat's mother and why he took such enjoyment at her expense at another time.

“I doubt she had intended to make it tonight so if you could, would you make sure she gets this? I was going to give it to her when I dropped Carter off but.” Kara offered him a small rectangle of a box, no bigger than a book to look at it but it held far more than the pages of any literary novel could hope to.

“I'll make sure she gets it before her mother has a chance to ruin it.”

“Thank you and tell her she's still invited, so is her mother, so are you and your family for that matter.”

Austin let out a gentle chuckle. “I know I can't make it though I do appreciate the offer. After this and her I've got the rest of the evening and tomorrow off and I'm going to utilize it, but I'll let her know regardless. Just be thankful Katherine isn't one to take up invitations from those who she considers to be of a certain station. Would ruin your holiday surely.”

With little fanfare Kara saw the man off, slipping back into her apartment and the waiting chaos that she knew the rest of the day would bring. Already people were discussing terms of just who would wrap what where and when while others worked on dinner in order to stay preoccupied and less likely to sneak a peek.

Carter was in her arms after another handoff like he belonged, his little bables and giggles adding to the flurry of action. Kara secreted him away, letting her cousin and sibling argue over who was going to make the best side dish, while all the adults compared notes and gifts to make sure no one had bought someone the same thing twice over.

Little did Kara know that while Cat had supplied them with their own variation of Santa Claus, the rest of her family had made sure to pick something up for the little guy who was a temporary member of their clan for the night. They had intended on sending him with Kara with a car full of presents of their own, only to be trumped and overridden easily by the boy’s mother.

“Alright everyone, listen up, here’s how it’s gonna go.” Uncle Jonathan was quick to quiet the noise, designating times and wrapping expectancies and helpers and kitchen duties before they were all wrapped up yet again in each other and the hum of christmas music in the background that someone had made sure to put on.

A short time later Cat eased herself into the back of the SUV with a gentle thump of the door before Austin settled into the driver's seat and ushered the car away from the curb. Already she was tightly wound, her mother rarely visited, much less for the holidays and given that she was now going to stick around for not only the holiday but a few days thereafter had Cat wondering just what exactly she was up to.

It wasn’t that Cat didn't love her mother, quite the contrary, but as far as having that love reflected back to her on any comprehensible level was something Cat had yet to experience from since she was much younger and naive. Once she had been passed along to private schools and into the care of others for the most part it seemed like her mother detached herself from the title; course this didn’t improve with the death of her father and how much he had altered his will to reflect who his favorite in the family was.

Even that had been years ago now and her mother was only just now starting to come around to talking to her over the phone, which again was one more reason she felt so cautious and on edge with the woman’s physical presence becoming a reality in the time it took to get to the airport from her home.

So wrapped up in her inner turmoil, she didn’t notice the weight of packages seated beside her in the back of the car until they rubbed against her hip with a particularly sharp turn. Her gaze dropped to the colorfully wrapped boxes, accented with their bows and labels only to realize each one of them was intended for her.

Cat rose a high brow, fingertips smoothing over the roughest wrapped of the three, easily hearing whatever was inside scraping across the cardboard confines beneath the paper and copious amount of tape and knotted ribbon. It reminded her of the way a child would wrap a gift, determined to mimic their parents but fiercely independent in their ability to do it without help. She cut her eyes up to the rear view mirror only to find Austin focused on the road as he navigated the long way through town in order to get to the airport.

She hid the smile that ghosted her features with his intention, he and her mother never got along, it was one of the redeeming qualities about him, even if she never made mention of it to him directly. She edged a finger across the gap on the edge of the paper, easing the colored paper apart until she held a high polish black box and eased the lid off.

Her reaction was instant, mouth curling in a genuine smile as she caught sight of the small repurposed objects set on colored wire and accented with cat head shaped gears and other mechanical themed articulations. The whole thing had been painted in holiday colors and smattered with glitter before being varnished to within an inch of its life.

Thankfully its coating had been aired out plenty and if she wasn’t mistaken it actually had a hint of vanilla wafting from it as she lifted the handmade necklace out holding it up on the backs of her stretched fingers watching it weave and bounce with the gentle motion of the car. Her eyes fell on the card still settled in the box her name printed neatly in marker before she turned it over with her free hand.

_“Merry Christmas pretty lady Cat, love Adelaide.”_

Cat swallowed thickly, fingers curling around the necklace as she re-read the card taking note of the little girl’s handwriting, taking into account how many times she had turned around and watched Cat writing on something or pointed out small errors she caught in pictures and layouts Cat had across her lap at times despite her father’s insistence that she let Cat alone as they drove.

She recalled the many mornings when Adelaide would open the door from inside the back, just for her, giving up her seat before going around to the front and being buckled into the passenger seat beside her dad on the way to taking Cat to work some mornings. That was until the girl had made it a point to introduce herself, again polite and without fear, always curious and quick to voice her mind despite the occasional apologetic look from Austin at her candor.

By the time the girl was five Cat had gotten used to her presence enough that she invited her back into the back with her instead of making her move back up front, and on one particular morning had asked to be dropped off last so as not to make the girl late for school.

It had been with that revelation and where the girl had been going to school because it was nearby that Cat may have intervened with an application or two to a specific set of schools involving scholarships and focusing on the actual education of each child that came through its doors rather than an overcrowded, underfunded public education system with more focus on sports and unimportant accolades rather than the proper basis of life skill and knowledge she felt every child should be afforded.

Especially ones who had such an innate and eager drive to learn and explore.

Silently Cat had played benefactor not only to Adelaide, enrolling her in a specialty school, with complete scholarship and its STEM based curriculum but had also silently invested in various boards of education throughout the whole of National City in an attempt to bring the surrounding educational system up to a higher standard. She told herself that it was because Carter would need that, a proper basis and best chance to further his own scholastic endeavors once he started school.

It had always been enough to fool herself until she was faced with moments like now, forced to sit with the emotions coiling inside her as a direct result of her interventions. She swallowed thickly, thumbing across the small spoke that was tooled and twisted to fit the wire and meld into the necklace which served as its own feat of engineering and ingenuity before twisting the magnetic clasp apart and putting it on.

Her fingertips pressed it into her skin just under the hollow of her throat, the corner of her mouth lifting at the marvel of how perfect the constructed thing fit before giving a small shake of her head and looking up again, catching Austin dead on in the mirrored reflection.

“I’ll never forgive you if you make my eyeliner run Austin.”

He chuckled from his place before giving a nod, catching sight of his daughter’s gift around Cat’s neck before turning his attention back to the road.

“You were the first person on her list you know.”

Cat nodded, sending him a grateful look even if she didn’t express it verbally before turning her eyes down to the next pair of gifts beside her.

“You don’t have to open the rest, in fact given whom you’re about to spend your time within the next little bit, it might be safer and far more rewarding if you wait until you can enjoy them properly and without judgement.”

Cat eyed the gifts, knowing the heavier, slender box was from Austin and his wife, the larger of the two she easily pegged as professionally wrapped given the hidden tape and expert corners and upon lifting the card felt her nostrils flare with her intake of breath upon seeing whom it was from.

“Miss Kara invited us all to dinner tomorrow,” he purposely left his statement inclusive to her, even if it was unspoken. A little reminder never hurt anyone really. “But Sara and I are taking Adelaide to her grandparents tonight after this, and given your sudden change of plans, she wanted to make sure you had that.”

Cat shifted her jaw minutely, tracing the pen strokes in the small folded cardstock before pulling both gifts to her and easing them into her bag and out of sight.

“Thoughtful.” Whether of him or Kara she didn’t relay, words slipping back down her throat as the shrill ring of her phone cried out from inside her purse. She drew in a breath as they passed the first few parking structures leading to the curbside pick up area. “Thank god you brought the GX.”

“She never could seem to pack light.” He murmured loud enough for her to hear even as she flipped open her phone only to wince at the voice pouring out of it loud enough for him to hear.

“We are pulling up now Mother.” Cat pulled in a deep breath, fingering her necklace as she tried to ground herself, feeling a headache pounding into her skull with every word coming through the tiny speaker near her ear. “There was so little planning- yes- next time I’ll send a service. Right. Here we are.” Cat snapped her phone shut and ground her teeth.

“Don’t worry Miss Cat, I know how to handle her, just sit back and try to remember what breathing is.” Austin’s candor nearly made her laugh out loud, and she immediately realized where his daughter got it from, only to find herself straightening somewhat as the door to her right opened and her mother swept in with an exasperated noise.

“Really Kitty, this is deplorable.”

“Merry Christmas to you too mother.”

Instead of a reply Katherine let a tabloid magazine slap itself between them on the seat, someone who looked somewhat like Asher and some far younger example of Cat herself were in the upper left corner, in the smallest circle, pixelated beyond recognition. Unless you were a forensic analyzer you couldn’t even be certain it was even him.

Cat knew, she knew the woman too, it was why Kara had been brought into her employ. It only furthered what she had already suspected Asher of doing and of course he had her permission in a way; so perhaps he would find a little more discretion and less enjoyment out of it all now.

“You’re letting your inability to manage your own household show again Kitty, it’s a good thing I came.”

Cat drew in a breath, holding it and praying to anyone that would listen that this would all be over soon while Austin loaded the car with her mother’s various checked luggage.

  
**\-------**

  
“Just one?” Clark begged, egged on by his older ‘cousin’ who remained steadily on his back, arms wrapped around his broad shoulders as he hoisted her up higher with ease.

“Yeah just ooooone.” Alex sing-songed while Carter squee-ed and clapped from where Kara had him balanced on her shoulders, his little hands using her hair like an anchor a second after.

“See even the little guy says we should do one. And he’s got the most to open y’know, we should help him out and all.” Clark added causing Kara to grin as she held the little guy tightly and bounced him again for emphasis.

Hours had passed since they all arrived home, and right now the four adults all looked between one another, they had finished wrapping all they had intended about an hour ago and despite the vast helping of finger foods, eggnog and other decadents to try and get them to settle and attempt to go to bed, their kids were still wound up. Even Carter, despite his lack of age by comparison was oddly awake given how busy his day had been by comparison to the usual regime he was used to.

The tree had been the final thing they tackled together, again another tradition of their extended family and with that finished everyone had brought out their presents and rather quickly dwarfed the thing and half of Kara and Alex’s living room with their number. Although the addition of one Cat Grant’s gifts and their seemingly endless abundance hadn’t helped matter either.

“Pweese!” Carter begged, balancing with the help of Kara’s head as he tried to mimic Clark and Alex as they put on their best and most hopeful expressions.

“We’ll clean up.”

“Alexandra Hetherington.” Clark and Kara chuckled at Alex being middle named by their mother.

“We will..”

“I didn’t agree to that.” Clark chimed in before he got middle named by his own Mother while all Kara could do was shake her head before tipping forward and flipping Carter off her shoulders with a squeal of laughter from the boy as she caught him and hoisted him back up in the air.

“I gotta deal with this little prince of a thing first.”

“Gee thanks guys.” Alex mumbled before she was hoisted higher by Clark.

“You can open one.”

The three youngest Danvers-Kent's gasped in surprise, coupled by a small thwack on Martha’s behalf across Jonathan’s bicep and a nudge from Eliza before Jeremiah backed the man up.

“-Just- one but we get to pick it.”

There was a collective groan from the three again though that seemed to satisfy the mother's enough for them to resign themselves to the idea.

“Or we could do none at all.” Jonathan stated before another round of assurances bubbled up from the trio.

“Okay then, nothing from Kara’s very nice boss,” Kara tried to hide the slight discomfort that statement pulled from her. It wasn’t that she was ungrateful for what Cat had done but it was a little embarrassing all things considered. Especially when she had only been employed by her for close to three months and barely scratched the surface of relaying all the things about the woman to her immediate family. Much less Uncle Jon and Aunt Martha and her cousin to boot.

“We’ll save those for in the morning with Carter and -only- if you all get ready for bed first and promise you’ll make your ways there right after.”

“Deal!” Alex and Clark stated in unison while Kara bounced Carter back up on her hip.

“Ready to open a present?”

Carter nodded seriously while Alex and Clark separated and went about getting their pj’s on in record time.

“And that means completely ready for bed! No skimping on brushing your teeth and everything!” Eliza added hearing two collective groans from across the apartment.

Carter fit his hands around Kara’s face, pulling her close as he finally allowed a yawn out once their foreheads came together.

“Mama gift.”

“Kara.” She corrected again softly, tipping her head up and brushing a kiss across his forehead. “You’re a gift too buddie.”

Eliza and Jeremiah shared another look between them as Kara made her way to get Carter changed and settled into his own pajamas while the other set of parents drifted further into the kitchen in order to clean up what was left from their evening snacking and food prep for tomorrow’s much larger meal.

“She’s going to get hurt isn’t she.” Jeremiah questioned as quietly as he could manage, he would know in an instant if Kara was listening in or if she had tuned the whole of them out and set her focus solely on the little boy who had somehow wormed his little way into all of their collective hearts.

“Little early to call don’t you think? She’s been employed for three months by this one-”

“And clearly spends more time with Carter than his own mother, he’s imprinting.”

Eliza let out a small sigh, giving a knowing nod, they were both scientists and given the respective fields, they could only attempt to fool each other for so long before pointing out the obvious. Especially when the obvious was attached to their foster daughter.

“She said he called her mama after a month, she’s tried, we’ve all heard her every time he says it.”

“He either doesn’t grasp what he’s saying or-”

“Mmm.” Eliza leaned into her husband, his arm wrapping around her shoulder as he pulled her closer. “Let’s not make implications about things when we don’t have all the information. Some people see the kids they’ve helped raise for other people go off to college before they’re having to find another job you know.”

“Now who’s implying.”

“Very funny.” Eliza reached up, hand smoothing around her husband’s jawline unseen as she continued to watch Carter and Kara interact with one another. “I was a wife before I was a mother you know, even if my two have grown up and one is going to college that first job is still firmly in place.”

“Are you two quite done?” The two turned, looking to Martha and Jonathan who were more than finished with cleaning up the kitchen and putting away everything.

“Oh hush old man, like we didn’t see you two sneaking off earlier.”

There was a sharp gasp from Martha and a smack from Eliza as she untangled herself from her husband while Jonathan merely gave a small shrug.

“Ready!” Clark puffed out his chest, coming to slide across the floor with his socks on, decked in his pajamas before Alex tackled him, or more oofed and wrapped herself around him just as Kara came out of the bathroom and was finishing tying up her hair before plucking Carter up from the makeshift playpen they had made earlier for him.

“We get to open one from each person right? I mean you said we get to pick I assumed it was everyone got to pick one for everyone to open” Kara added, tucking Carter into her side as her cousin and sister turned to look at her as if she were the most brilliant being on the face of the planet.

Both sets of parents however were less than enthused at her round of logic and seeing the other two expressions twisting back at them they eventually gave in.

“This happens every year I swear. Next time we’re just going to put everything in bags.”

“You said that last year.” All three chimed in while Carter repeated them causing the whole of the room to break up into laughter. They all worked their way around mugs of cocoa and last minute snacks and tucked themselves into their respective spots while Clark played gift giver under the direction of marked tags and the occasional shout from someone not to forget it.

Across town Cat tucked herself away into her study, her mother having opted for a hotel not too far away, even when Cat reminded her that she would have to provide her own transportation seeing as her driver was off. Which suited Katherine just fine given her penchant towards disdain for her daughter’s choice in help.

Somewhere Cat was thankful Kara wasn’t around, even more so that Carter was far away from his grandmother and her judgemental outlook and oppressive manner. Though she did miss them both. It was odd to include Kara in that sentiment, and too late to reel it back inward. Whether it was the bourbon or the third bourbon she wasn’t sure aside from the fact that it was the bourbon that pulled that line of consideration into the fore of her mind.

She missed her son, knew she was going to miss his expressions and noises and all manner of little bouts of joy he brought to her, especially on Christmas but with everything going on she felt it almost safer for him to be away from everything their current home environment had to offer. She knew well enough Kara would take care of him. Her family was in town, assuming she had informed them of Carter’s possible presence before she even agreed to Kara’s request oh keeping him, they were undoubtedly giving him a fulfilling bout of excitement.

Cat couldn’t help but consider Austin’s reminder once more, and Kara’s reserved invitation. Even if she had seemed to make herself so anxious as to nearly plow through an elevator with the offer, Cat would be lying if she hadn’t considered it. Especially now with all that had seemed to land in her lap concerning Asher and her mother among other things.

Her gifts from earlier were settled onto her desk, unopened and almost seeming to glow in the dim light of her office set inside her rather empty and quiet house. Were she in any other space she would probably be going mad right about now. She toyed with the edge of the larger one, the peak of Kara’s handwriting almost taunting her from beneath the fold of cardstock that refused to remain flush against the gift itself.

Cat leaned back in her chair then, eyeing the clock, then her phone, chewing at her bottom lip before swallowing another mouthful of bourbon. Her free hand was running the length of her newest jewelry aquisition, mind swirling in its considerations of what she was going to say this time and how it would be different than last time.

She let go of the necklace then, straightening slightly as she opened the receiver taking a deep breath before pressing the speed dial number and waiting for the thing to ring.

“Hello?”

Cat closed her eyes, pulling her bottom lip from her teeth, hearing her son’s voice come over the line instead of Lois’ as she had expected.

“Merry Christmas.” The words came out deeper than she intended and she cleared her throat gently to push the haze away.

There was a pregnant pause as the background noise seemed to drift further away.

“Mom?”

Cat’s smile was unbidden despite its melancholy nature at the tentativeness of the moniker being spoken.

“Hello my prince.” Cat swallowed hard, drawing in a deep breath, wincing at herself and putting a hand over her face. “Unless it’s not-”

“No it’s okay.”

They both sat there, listening to one another breathe over the phone, unsure of what to say or how to communicate without the physicality of one another in the same space to convey everything that was missing between their words.

“Merry Christmas Mom.”

Cat looked heavenward, giving a small shake of her head, feeling the burn in her eyes before pressing her cheek into her free hand. She heard the muffled rustle of the phone coupled with the hum of his changing voice, no doubt Lois had found him, especially if she had caught the time just right.

“Momma wants to talk to you.” Adam stated while Cat nodded unseen. “Love you.”

“You too Adam.”

“Always the first one.” Lois commented, hoping her smile came through the line. “Merry Christmas Cat.”

“Lois, Merry Christmas.” Cat snuffled in a sharp breath, tamping down her emotions and chastising herself in the same instant. “I uh, I got your card, he looks good.”

“He looks like you.”

Cat felt like wincing, again without the visual queues to go on it was difficult to determine the woman’s intention without seeing it. Lois was always visual in the way she expressed herself, for a reporter especially, one could read her a mile away.

“How’re you doing?”

“Busy as always, finding stories-”

“And trying to change the world.” Cat finished, letting out another internal sigh.

“We’re going on a trip soon.”

Small talk, it was something they slipped into easy enough, it kept them at arm’s length from one another while still remaining courteous to some degree.

“Oh? How’d you manage that around your schedule?”

“Still working on it, but I have a feeling I’m due this one.”

Cat nodded to herself, rubbing her face a bit.

“I know it’s late there-”

“After midnight.”

“And I, I don’t want to keep you I know the rest of your family’s there.”

“Lucy says to tell you hello.”

Cat straightened slightly, unsure what to make of that little interjection, nodding yet again unseen by Lois.

“Tell her I said Merry Christmas.”

“Do I get to tell them where the gifts from Santa that’ll no doubt be here in the morning come from?”

Cat’s sigh was unmistakable in its response and Lois merely shook her head and chuckled quietly to herself, looking up at the skyline of Metropolis and the heavy down of snow already threatening to keep them all housebound tomorrow.

“Alright then Mrs. Claus, your secret’s safe with me.”

“Lois.” Cat warned.

“They’ll only buy it for so much longer you know.”

“Just take the credit yourself.” Cat regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth, wondering why she just hadn’t told the woman to have a good holiday and leave it at that until next year or something.

Lois could almost hear the regret in the way Cat breathed and knew deep down the woman hadn’t meant it like that but it still pulled on so many memories.

“Lois I-  
“Listen Cat-”

The two interrupted the awkward silence in the same instant leaving Lois to sigh while Cat pushed ahead.

“Have a wonderful day tomorrow, today, Christmas, and a better New Year.”  
  
Lois tried to reflect the sentiment only to get the first syllable of ‘you’ out before she heard the line disconnect. She let out another sigh of her own as the snow started to fall heavier.

“You’re gonna get sick standing out there like that Lois c’mon!” Laurel’s voice was laced with excitement, no doubt from the fact that her three kids were finally down and the adults go to play santa for the rest of the night.

Lois huffed out a cloud of vapor into the night air, her mind beyond made up for what she was intending for a week from now as she pushed all of that weight aside and let herself settle back into the joy of the moment.

“Alright but make sure Adam’s in his room too.”

“Oh cmon he’s old enough to-”

“Yeah well there’s still some kind of magic to it he hasn’t figured out yet even if he knows its me Laurel.”

“Fine whatever, just get your butt inside already.”

“And you wonder why your little one has a mouth on her.”

“Because of her Aunts.”

“I heard that,” Lucy chimed in as she scooted past, arms full.

“Ladies, you’re going to wake everyone in this building, including those three little’ins if you don’t stop trying to whisper and yell outside their bedroom window.” The General supplied causing the pair to muffle their swears as Lois traipsed back inside.

Cat let her head fall back against the lip of her chair, trying to burn the conversation from her mind only to have her phone bark at her again, with a slap of her hand across her desk she snagged the thing, flipping it open without looking. 

"What."  It wasn't the right thing to say, the right tone, nor did it hold anything other than an embittered, irritated, self loathing vilification on her part but it was all that seemed to want to slip past her lips. 

"Miss Grant?" 

Kara's voice made Cat's eyes pop open and pulled her head up from her chair as if she half expected the woman to be standing inside her office and not halfway across the city in what sounded like her own family filled holiday rukus. 

"What's wrong?"

"No-nothing, I wasn't expecting you to-" 

"You have my son, if you're calling this late in the evening, especially considering his bedtime is usually an hour ago I can't help but assume something's-"

"Merry Christmas Cat."  

Cat's words died in her throat, slipping back down into the coil of her stomach and squeezing there.  

"Wh-" 

"I only seem to be capable of worrying you when I try to do these simple things, I didn't mean, I just..."  Kara's words drifted and Cat searched the air in front of herself waiting. 

They remained silent with one another for another series of heartbeats before Cat's senses picked up Kara's soft intake of breath. 

"Just, uhm, right. So, Merry Christmas Miss Cat- er Grant, sorry again for the worry, Carter's fine he's down now, sort of, he misses you but I-."  The woman huffed out a breath into the phone again. "Sorry I just wanted to be sure to tell you Merry Christmas, really." 

Cat looked at her phone a moment then heavenward before pulling it back to her ear. 

"Good ni-" 

"Kara." Cat caught the slight stumble in breath as she halted Kara's words and worried the inside of her bottom lip before pulling in air of her own.  

"Despite the fact you have about two more hours until, I'll appreciate your punctuality for the moment."

"I don't-"

Merry Christmas to you too."

 


	6. Christmas Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unexpected guests and even more unexpected requests turn the holiday upside-down

Cat woke up alone, in the quiet space of her home and for a split second, she likened it to the best gift she could have gotten in that moment. Until she heard the clinking of silverware downstairs and the heavier sound of cups being set upon the counter around the hum of polite voices.

With a dark sigh, Cat rubbed her hands over her face, pushing her fingers through her hair and holding onto her neck as she sat up and against the cushion of her headboard straining to hear the conversation and whom it was being had by.

She narrowed her eyes when she caught the male lilt and instantly recognized it as Asher before her mother's louder and much more condescending tone split through the air like a knife. Cat shook her head, knowing full well that despite having stayed in a hotel, and remaining in one for the rest of however long she was going to grace them with her presence, she had clearly taken the time to go after one half of her greater disappointment.

Without wanting Cat slipped from the bed, letting the pair below know she was awake with the twist of the shower being turned on even if all she did was gather a few things and lock herself into the master bathroom. Not five minutes into the day and the expectancy level was through the roof. She took in another deep breath, trying to ground herself as she carried out her morning ritual, hoping the meds would kick in before her mother did.

Cat stared at her reflection for a long moment, taking in the new lines and shadows along the cut of her frame, silken robe wavering about from the steam like some grandiose pair of fairy wings or some such. With the flutter, she noted the metallic red behind her, set atop the stack of towels where she had left the gifts both Kara and Austin had given her the day before.

Initially, she had kept herself from opening them under the guise of the late hour and the whirlwind her mother had provided that had sucked the life and the enthusiasm out of her night. When in actuality, it was some nostalgic element wrought from her long since passed father and always saving the best, most thoughtful gifts, at least from him, for the morning to carry her into a new year.

She shifted her stance slightly, pushing off her marbled sink to turn and set herself on its lip, looking at the two gifts. Her eyes cut to the floor, knowing the two below her and how trying the rest of this day was going to be, especially if her mother accompanied her to the Tribune. Which was initially where she had planned on spending the majority of her day before retiring back home.

Cat eased off the counter-top, walking over and plucking the smaller of the presents from where they sat. She shook it gently against her ear, hearing not a single rustle outside of the minute crinkle of paper her grip provided. Turning it back over she eased her fingers under the edge, only to have the paper fall from her grasp with a small sound of disbelief when the top of the box was revealed to her. Or more the genuine silver letters etched into the black matte box.

“[Mont Blanc](http://www.montblanc.com/en-us/discover/limited-editions/patron-of-art/catherine-ii-the-great-and-peter-the-great.html)”

Her hand was around her mouth, the other shaking slightly until she reaffirmed her grip on the thing and eased herself to sit. Her eyes turned glassy and she blinked “Austin you foolish... sentimental.. idiot.”

Cat swallowed thickly, unsure if she should even continue opening the box, so unsure of what she was going to find. She knew how much these pens cost, had agonized over them ever since she watched her father wield his with such elegance only to tell her that one did not buy their first one, it was supposed to be gifted to them.

He had promised her then he would buy her one when she was ready and died before he could carry out his promise. While she had hoped to gain his, her mother had seen to it that she didn't, especially what with all he had left her with his passing.

She chewed on her bottom lip, sniffling back her emotions and looking skyward for some kind of breath to be found before looking back to the box and thumbing it open and thanking whoever was looking out for her that there was a chair close enough for her to fall into otherwise she would have been on the floor.

The stamp of 750 R gleamed at her from its discretely stamped placement along the red gold ornamentation featuring blossom wreath motifs stretching across the aubergine-colored barrel of the pen shaft. The ruby wreathed cap was removed, set aside and tucked into its own place in the inner box mold revealing the 18-karat gold nib and its two-headed eagle symbol engraved on it.

She barely noticed the card that fell out with her lifting of the lid where it rested on her lap until she pressed away the blur from her eyes.

_“Cat, you've spoken of these things for as long as I've driven you around. My wife, daughter and I couldn't pass it up when we first saw it, I know it's not new, but I know you keep up with these. Yes, it is the Catherine the Great pen, and with its intended inspiration we couldn't think of anything better to give to you._

_Thank you,_  
_Austin, Sara & Adelaide”_

 

**\-------**

 

Kara felt hands on her shoulders, then her face accompanied by a muffled giggle before she peeked an eye open and saw Carter floating above her.

“Morning little prince.” She whispered, ignoring the profile of her sister and cousin where they were trying to hide just off to the side of her. The latter of the pair being the one to help Carter 'float'.

“It -is- morning isn't it?”

“Of course it is!” Alex hissed and Clark let Carter go, seeing as he was already half balanced on Kara anyway causing her to oof and him to giggle.

“Then why are you in here?”

“Cause you can wake the rest of them up without us getting into trouble.”

“Me? Why me? I'm more likely to get sternly looked at or told to be more of an adult than you two.”

“Nuh-uh.” Clark amended. “Not with that guy.” He oofed when Alex clamored over him and perched on the end of Kara's bed only for him to climb up after. The both of them looked as if they hadn't slept a wink since they all went to bed a few scant hours prior.

Carter clapped his hands together and leaned over again, using Kara's throat as a brace.

“You both can't be serious.”

“Santa came Mama, Lex and Ark said.”

“Kara, Alex, and Clark.” She corrected again, sitting up slightly and pulling him with her as she looked towards the closed glass doors that usually stayed open but now served as a separator from the living room and the rest of where everyone else was undoubtedly asleep.

“And you don't know.” She shot a look at the other two. “You don't know..”

“C'mon Kara...”

“You know they won't get mad at him.”

“Seriously...”

“Pweeeeese,” Carter begged causing Kara to make a face at the other two behind him before she shook her head and hoisted the little man up and swung her legs over the bed.

“Alright, alright.. c'mon.” Kara grabbed the door handle to the Christmas wrapping papered partition and pulled open the door.

“LIZASAUR!” Carter squealed, reaching for the Danvers matriarch who was ready to take him, Jeremiah was right behind her while Jon waved.

“To think, they thought they'd have to wake us up. For shame.” Martha stated as she walked by, a cup of coffee in hand while the youngest members of their family blinked disbelievingly.

“Santa Miah, Santa.” Carter sing-songed as he saw all manner of things from his new perch. “Jonjon, Mara he came, he came!” Eliza chuckled, glancing at the pair still perched on Kara's bed.

“We were right!” Alex stated before sinking down a bit with the look her mother threw her.

“You're lucky we don't make you wait longer, like until breakfast is done,” Jonathan added as he took Eliza's place at the door, taking a sip of his coffee.

“You wouldn't,” Clark said while Kara brushed past her Uncle and Dad, making her way to the kitchen in search of the coffee the man was enjoying.

“Sure you want to test that, Superboy?” Jeremiah teased in a warning tone causing Clark and Alex to look at one another then back pleadingly.

 

**\-------**

 

“I don't care what urges you have or whatever arrangement you made,” Katherine said for what had to be the umpteenth time to Asher and Cat as she finished her breakfast and tossed her cloth napkin down onto her plate to signify her completion. Even if half the plate itself was untouched.

“You have a reputation to uphold, being my daughter certainly and you, just because your parents aren't around anymore and you were too spoiled as the only child when they were here, doesn't mean you get to have everything and anything you want just because you feel neglected. You're nearly forty years old grow up Asher.”

“Don't.” Cat nearly spat the word, causing her mother to look at her directly. “Talk about them that way.”

Asher was seething, and while Cat wasn't as fond as she should have been of him, given everything, no one deserved to have their parent's death's thrown at them like that. Nor did he deserve half of what Katherine had dished out to him. They were both equally responsible for the mess they were in and for now, even if they didn't consider themselves to be married outside of convenience, it was their mess to handle. Not her mother's. Now certainly wasn't the time to handle such a thing. Granted, the scandal Asher seemed less than aware that he was creating, and attention he was drawing to the sham their relationship really was, wasn't something they needed either.

There was a timetable for sure to be had, and the more Cat considered trying to save whatever this lack of something was with the two of them, the more she convinced herself it just needed to end. But it needed to end on their terms, at their pace, and with everything, especially concerning finances and Carter to be considered first above all else.

“I'll dare speak to him in any way I see fit Kitty, it's my name you're still dragging through the headlines with anything you do in this godforsaken city.”

“Mother.”

Both Cat and Katherine looked at the man, the older of the two Grants narrowing her eyes at the man.

“I have things to do, and they don't include her, and they especially don't include someone as heartless as you.”

He set a hand on Cat's shoulder, squeezing gently. “We'll talk.” He leaned down then, placing a genuine kiss on her temple despite the slight sneer Katherine somehow managed to contain while Cat nodded. “You know how to reach me if you need to hide the body.”

Cat winced, thankful the expression hid her edge of amusement while Katherine was up on her feet a second after.

“Merry Christmas you old wicked old witch.” And like that he was gone, again leaving Cat to deal with all the pieces again.

“Satisfied with that outcome Mother?” Cat questioned, folding her napkin and setting it on the table as she pushed herself to a stand and gathered her and the other woman's plates.

“He has a lot of nerve.”

“And restraint.” Cat interrupted, setting the dishes in the sink before turning to regard the other woman. “Did you actually intend to spend the holiday with me at all or was it just a ruse to try and play marriage counselor?”

“I don't like your tone.”

“Nor do I like your implication that you know the depth of my personal affairs. Shouldn't you be in Metropolis, helping Lillian and her lot? She always was your favorite after all.”

“She's not in the country.” Katherine stated, fixing her hair and checking something on her phone before turning her attention back to Cat.

“So you're not going to come with me to the Tribune then?”

“Of course not. Why you bought that rag of a paper I'll never know, undoubtedly to get back at me for something. No, I have other things I intended for today.”

Cat mm'd and nodded, crossing her arms over her chest and keeping her sigh to herself.

“How long did you plan your visit then?”

“Just until the eve before New Years, even with your sister gone for the holidays, I still managed to procure tickets to the ball drop skyloft party in Metropolis and I'm certainly not going to miss that.”

“I see.” Cat straightened then, turning off the coffee pot and setting the rest of the breakfast ware into the sink itself.

“I had been hoping to see my grandson-”

“My son, had other plans.” Cat allowed with an almost dangerous tone causing Katherine to make a slight face of disapproval before pushing the notion aside.

“Rather social for a three-year-old. Just as well, I'm sure he'll be much more enjoyable when he's older anyway. Really appreciate the finer points of his namesake and his Grandmother.”

“I'm sure.” Cat supplied with a hint of sarcasm. “Would you like Austin to drop you off where-”

“No, that brute of a man can tend to his own. I've got a service anyway.”

“Good. Hopefully, you've phoned them. If not I suggest you do, I'm going to get my things and head into that tattered rag of a paper building.”

“You know I only say those things to make you realize you could do so much better Kitty, I wish you would let me introduce you to my publisher. She could really help you.”

“Thank you mother, I'll stick with the rag.” Cat turned from her completely, making her way to the swinging door. “I'm sure you know your way out by now,” and with a shove, she was gone and headed upstairs to finish getting herself ready for the rest of her day.

 

**\-------**

 

By the time evening arrived, and a few naps, on both the parents and the kid's behalves, Kara's apartment was again filled with energy. Christmas music played low in the kitchen area while the TV was muted and played whatever Christmas themed movie was on whatever station whoever had the remote put it on.

Where the day before had been about snacking and tasting and enjoying bits of food all day long, today was about eating just enough to get one through to hold them off until dinner. Which was presently being cooked in the oven and on the stove and being prepped by Martha, Jeremiah, and Kara for the most part.

The rest were involved with sundry things that had come either from Cat, with a surprising accuracy for taste and consideration given who each extra present had been for. It had, of course, caused the parents of two super-powered aliens to huddle together while their adoptive children had been napping to see what all they could do, or if there was anything they really needed to, to ensure any particulars surrounding Kara or Clark's origins were still as safe as they could be.

Cat Grant was no mastermind, so they hoped, or working for the government in any capacity that they were aware of but if she could find out enough to provide each of them with a fitting gift as a perfect stranger, it made them all wonder what she or anyone else might be able to find if they really applied themselves beyond the intention of the season.

For now, it was something they had decided they would deal with at a later date, to enjoy the holiday and what all they had left with their kids until they headed back to Midvale and Smallville, leaving the two girls to themselves again to bring in a New Year.

Carter was on the floor at present, set between Alex and Clark as they played with some kind of star projection map across the ceiling slowly trying to sound out the names of constellations for the youngest of the three of them to repeat through his three-year-old filter. Which half the time, especially for the long ones, came out as the first bit being accurate and the rest being gibberish or merely replaced with saur.

Kara was off in the laundry nook, finishing up a small load of Carter's clothes while the others busied themselves setting the table once her mother had announced dinner would be ready in about thirty minutes. She was far more preoccupied with the small proof of a photo from yesterday, the one with her and Carter on either side of Santa, smiling and waving in one of the photos she didn't have printed.

She was walking a fine line between things and she knew it. Part of her was more than aware of what her relationship with Carter was reflecting, especially with how he was bonding with her family, and how much she reminded him of Kal-El. Kara knew he wasn't a social child, he rarely seemed to connect with anyone his age, even when she had taken him to the park or many other places trying to get him to make those connections with other kids.

Instead, here he was, connecting with adults for the most part, on a level that didn't make one feel as if they had to denigrate themselves to talk to him. He was eager and smart and despite turning everything into some kind of dinosaur, in a way, seemed genuine in his retention of what he was being told and conveyed it accordingly.

Kara watched as Eliza climbed over to the three, stretching out on her stomach and propped on her elbows, letting the three-year-old use her as a means to climb up and onto her back. Carter sat on the breadth of her shoulders, gently holding onto her hands where she held his legs so he wouldn't fall back, pointing out each star her sister and cousin had told him about.

Eliza only had to correct him a handful of times, but it was gentle and with a smile, Kara remembered from her own mother before she ended up looking away and tucking the picture into her pocket. She glanced at the clock one more time and checked her phone where it sat on the folding table. No word from Cat and if she wasn’t here by now, she wasn’t coming.

“Dinner's up in ten minutes, everyone start washing up and getting settled!” Jonathan added, sending Alex and Clark into the bathroom to wash their hands while Carter squeed and giggled as Eliza brought him to the kitchen sink, bouncing him over to Jeremiah who helped him wash his own.

“Mama wash up!” He chimed, looking at her before she smiled gently at him and pushed thoughts of her own long since departed family out of her mind for now.

“Kara's coming buddy. Kara's coming.”

Aunt Martha was already setting up the table just as Alex and Clark came bouncing back into the kitchen, snagging pots and dishes filled to the brim with all manner of food and setting them about where they were instructed.

“I got him Dad, help Uncle Jon with the ham.”

“You saying I need help over there Kara?”

Kara switched places with her Dad, scrubbing her and Carter’s hands under soapy water before grinning at her Uncle. “I would never.” She teased before pulling Carter up and getting their hands dried.

The patriarchs of either family hefted the main course out of her oven with a slightly visible strain of effort before getting it onto a platter.

“I’ll cut it up, Dad.” Clark offered, causing Jon and Jeremiah to share a look knowing where this was going before the latter of the pair gave a small head shake and stepped away.

“That’s your son..” He teased

“Says the one who’s daughter offered to pick up the car at the same age.”

“I didn’t know she meant literally. I thought she wanted to drive it.”

“Okay, right here guys... “ Kara stated, hugging Carter to her so his back was against her chest and his legs hung over her other arm like a chair.

“Done!” Clark stated proudly causing the three to look at him and the messily but still sliced twenty-pound ham and even had the bone back in the roaster with most of the renderings.

“Still haven’t beaten my record little cous.” Kara winked and chuckled

“Aw man! I was close this time right?”

“Ask your Uncle,” Kara stated, moving around to the table in the other room where Martha, Alex, and Eliza were. Her mother was just unlatching Carter’s booster tray from the chair they had for him.

“You shouldn’t tease him,” Eliza stated as she and Kara got Carter set up for dinner.

“I’m his older cousin, and the closest thing he’ll have to an older sister. If I can’t tease him even a little bit what good am I.” Kara said with a small smirk.

“He’s already competitive at school, wants to join the football team,” Martha stated as she dropped off a bow of gravy causing Kara’s smile to fade somewhat.

Eliza reached over then, tipping her chin up.

“I’m not saying because of you.” Martha amended looking between them. “Lord knows we’ve been more than thankful not to be the first run. Though I will say there is something inherently different from raising a boy than raising a girl.”

Eliza chuckled and Kara groaned while Alex made an 'ew' sound and moved to the kitchen.

“I remember, hormones are fun.” She stated sarcastically. “And his. All males from where we’re from are early to develop in their hormonal influences, to work the aggression out before they’re expected to hold prominence and-.”

“And women?”

Kara flexed her jaw before looking up at both her mother and Aunt. “We have phases.”

“Phases?” Martha questioned while Eliza just gave Kara an empathetic look, she and her daughter had already had this conversation many times before. Among others relating to anything Kara could remember or inherently knew about herself and her cousin.

“Krypton was far more matriarchal than Earth seems to be and far more equal as far as what you consider gender specifics here. In that female hormones are phase-oriented.. mostly...”

Martha shook her head, she was no scientist. “Thank god your parents found the both of you, I dunno what we’d have done without them.”

Kara smirked while Eliza chimed in. “I’m sure you’d have figured something out eventually.”

“We’re still trying to figure out what to do now. Not that I ever would have wished you to be such a guinea pig for what you can do Kara but, know that I’m grateful.” Martha actually hugged the woman to her, tightly. “You’ve made it so much easier for him, I only hope we’ve made it easier for you.”

Kara hugged the older woman, letting out a deep breath, trying to ground herself as the other woman’s emotions threatened to swarm into her own aura and overwhelm them both. It was easy to feel how much truth her Aunt’s words held amidst all other forms of emotion.

“You have Aunt Martha. You all have.”

 

**\-------**

 

Cat paced about her office like some great beast akin to her namesake. The rest of the floor was rather dim, not even Snapper’s office was lit up, which was as she had expected. Even planned if she were being honest but would never admit it. She carefully folded over another page of the initial contract she was still in the process of composing for the keystone of her proposed multimedia corporation; only to find a series of figures that already needed to be altered from the last time she was drawing this up.

With a sigh she drug her glasses off her face, keeping her thumb on the page as she wove her way back to her desk in search of a post-it. Already she was chiding herself, knowing if she didn’t get this taken care of sooner rather than later any pathway she was trying to carve for herself in National City was going to close up.

Which would only serve to fuel her mother’s I told you so nature about all this and despite the slight redemption of a moment the man had exhibited earlier, Asher would merely lord it over her and despite this day and age, as a woman she was never going to make it in what was considered a male run, and controlled avenue of business.

The last thing she needed there was the man urging her to quit. Cat Grant was not a quitter, she might concede a point but she never up and quit. Not even with Adam, that was its own compromise. She let out a sigh and slowly eased herself down into her chair, her mind for business gone as her focus shifted in a complete one-eighty as she recalled the phone call with her son nearly twenty-four hours ago now.

Cat let out another sigh, her proposal closed as she reached for the top right drawer on her desk, easing it open with a slow deliberation. There in the drawer itself sat every card Lois, and of course, Adam had ever sent. Each Christmas it would come and each year one minute after midnight she would call. Nevermind the gifts she sent for the following morning, everything hinged on that one minute and if this was the time the phone would be answered or not.

It was an odd little ritual to be sure, self-serving as well, but it was far easier than to try and face the issues plaguing the entire situation head-on, especially now after so much time had passed between them all and only continued to do so.

Every Christmas was a reminder of that, of her ambition and intentions, family and naivety, misunderstanding and jealousy all getting in the way of her just being. Living in a moment. She shifted her jaw, looking at each card from the first to the one she had received a week prior and all the time she thought she had now gone. It struck her then that instead of learning, of really acknowledging the situation for what it was, she was already starting to repeat it with Carter.

Cat closed her eyes then, letting out a slow breath to try and ground herself as she set the cards back into the section hidden away in her drawer and closed it up. Given the hour her mother was undoubtedly asleep, as was Asher if he was even back at the house and despite legitimately wanting to get some semblance of work done, she knew she had been hiding from the pair until this moment.

Her thoughts again pivoted sharply, an internal voice reminding her that she had chosen to stay in her office, had opted to take her mother’s service to work since Austin was off and lock herself away in her tower. Knowing full well she had a far better option that had been provided to her days ago and yet she had squandered it away.

She knew enough of Kara’s family, having done a bit of a background check on them once her plans had changed in order to compensate their extra handful for the holiday but that was still extremely clinical by comparison. Leaning back in her chair Cat contemplated what that might have actually been like to experience.

If Kara’s family and extensions were anything like her, the cynical part of Cat immediately chimed in with how she would have found herself bored and immediately over classed. The larger majority of herself that wasn’t her mother on the other hand, actually felt a little heartbroken that she had squandered her time here in this unforgiving glass monstrosity of a newspaper office.

Where she had panes of glass and cold steel surrounded in the muted colors of cubicles and khaki’s she would have been encased in holiday colors and trim, a Christmas tree decorated with little personal touches and lights like stars.

Where stagnant recycled air and the musk of the building’s age filled the air, she would have benefited from a variety of holiday foods and desserts, baked goods and if she were feeling bold, a rush of cinnamon and bourbon-laced eggnog despite the company of strangers.

Where she was alone and looking at all the time she had already missed with one son, she could have been spending time with the one she had told herself she wouldn’t fail as a mother this time. She glanced across her desk then, seeing the present she still had yet to open, the one the current keeper of her youngest had given her and reached for it.

She shook it gently one more time, not hearing any rustle in the slightest before setting it across her lap. The paper was a dark metallic green, bound in gold ribbon with the folded to from card tucked just off center of the bow. Her finger pushed it up and open again, seeing Kara’s handwriting and how it worked around each of their names before she pulled it off and tore the paper.

Candy cane striped tissue paper greeted her before she pried it away to reveal a dark red box, with a small disbelieving laugh she pushed the lid off only to let out a soft gasp. The silver frame that greeted her was instantly recognizable it’s matching travel frame was wrapped in another set of tissue and tucked into the corner atop the pale blue bag the frame sets had come in originally.

She could’ve cared less if they were pewter or silver or gold, it was the picture itself that stole her breath away. Carter was in some kind of holiday-themed get up she didn’t remember buying him, set on Santa’s lap all laughs and giggles.

The big jolly man, however, wasn’t his focus, no that belonged to the woman just off the edge of the picture, partially hidden by the depth of the frame. With a tip of the frame she could see the picture was bigger than the glass permitted and Kara’s expression was just as ecstatic from what she could see.

Cat swallowed thickly, feeling the weight of each stone as it piled into her throat before she was reaching for her phone. She prayed someone was there, that she wasn’t too late and just as she opened up the travel frame, seeing another picture of Carter cut to fit on one side a voice sounded on the other end.

Kara padded silently through her apartment, everyone was down and out cold, even Clark. Which she was thankful for, given how hard it had been for her to even consider sleeping her first few years she hadn’t really considered her cousin in that aspect until about a year in. Of course, he had fared far greater on that front and Kara had always likened his adaptability on Earth over her own due to their gap in age.

Alex and he were in Alex’s room, her in the bed and him on the pull out underneath it, she and Kara shared the main bathroom as it was set up between either space. Her parents and Aunt and Uncle were in the living room on a pull out couch and an air mattress, while the room itself could be cordoned off due to sliding partitions; and of course, the folding glass doors that separated her room where Carter was set up.

It always seemed like a large apartment when it was just her and Alex but with the eight of them there she realized that if they did this again she might need to consider a larger place. That, however, was a far away thought and if Alex continued on the path she was on give it a couple of years and she would either be living in her own apartment alone or with one of her classmates.

Again not exactly the process of thoughts she had wanted to find herself on but given the hour and the fact that she was up instead of asleep like everyone else, she was willing to just let her mind float if it meant it ran through all its pathways enough to allow her to drift off once they were exhausted.

Just as her mind was rounding another bend of thoughts, one where she contemplated flying which was always one of her favorites she heard the barest of knocks. Or what she thought was one at her door. Instantly she was across the span of her kitchen, undoing the locks as quietly as possible before turning the handle and pulling the door aside.

“Cat?”

The woman in question was turning back to her, fumbling with putting her phone away in her purse, having tried to call Kara once she realized the hour only to come to a slow stop in her movements.

Kara was in her pajamas and there was a part of Cat that was so very thankful it was dark and late and that the whole of her expression couldn’t be seen. Granted they weren’t near anything Cat wore to bed but they were exposing enough considering she tended to see the other woman in far more layers.

“I’m sorry it’s late-”

Kara widened the door and beckoned Cat inside causing the woman to frown in slight confusion, she had fully expected this little exchange to occur in the doorway or the hallway. Cat stepped inside for little else to do and unable to find an argument not to. Hearing the door click quietly behind her made her tense slightly until Kara made her way around Cat’s frame.

“Do you want anything?”

Cat rose a brow at Kara’s whisper, glancing around to the Christmas light lit apartment through gift wrapped partitions and doors.

“Coffee or?”

“Got any eggnog?” It was a joke, mostly to herself and under her breath but Kara nodded just the same and before Cat could deter her there was a mug and the white glow of the refrigerator as it was opened bathing them both in much brighter light for a moment

“Careful it’s strong,” Kara stated as she offered the mug to Cat, easing her own mug from the counter once she had filled it with the hot cocoa she had been in the process of making when the other woman showed up. “My Uncle Jonathan makes it.”

Kara made a small head tilt, urging Cat to follow as she slipped into her bedroom which was far quieter than the echo of tile and cabinets that the kitchen offered. Cat followed easily, despite being a touch stiff and unsure of her surroundings, she figured Kara wouldn’t lead her anywhere nefarious.

Once they were secluded away Kara spoke again but still in hushed whispers that strained the throat and Cat’s ears.

“Sorry, everyone’s asleep just about everywhere and you looked like you needed to talk.”

Cat rose an eyebrow at the presumption. “I came because of Carter.”

“Oh.” Kara swallowed a sip of her cocoa before setting her mug aside, already moving to gather his things and get them folded and packed. She could get a box from the other room and set his gifts in them, help Cat load the car and-

“What’re you doing?”

Kara finished folding his shirt and tucked it in his bag before straightening. “Getting his things.” She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice, knowing her own family would have wanted to tell him goodbye but Cat was his mother and if she wanted to take him home now Kara should be thankful she and they got to spend as much time as they already had with him.

“You think, I’m no. Keira stop, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Kara put a finger over her mouth causing Cat’s heart to jump up into her throat.

“He’s asleep in a bed in the corner.”

Cat followed Kara’s gaze, catching the shadow of her son and the child’s air mattress he was nestled within like a little pea in a pod as Kara’s touch slipped away.

“I got that for him in case you ever needed to drop him off here.” Kara allowed, her voice reflective. “He thinks it’s his own dinosaur egg.”

“I’m not here to take him,” Cat said softly as Kara turned back to regard him, then his mother.

“But you said-”

“Tell me there’s somewhere we can talk a little louder.” Cat pressed, stepping into Kara’s space. “I know this isn’t, how late and-” Cat felt her pulse jump again when Kara snagged her wrist, pulling her along and into a closet.

There was a shift in their positions despite being plunged into total darkness before the click of a light sounded and they were bathed in the warm glow of even more Christmas lights strung across the top of the closet.

They were buffered by clothes and closer than they would have been, were they still in Kara’s bedroom. Despite the intimacy of the space or lack therein, Cat felt a touch more comfortable than a moment prior within the previous setting. Even with her son sleeping in the corner.

“If you’re not here for Carter then why?” Kara’s voice was softer but not the strained whisper she had been speaking in a moment ago.

“You invited me.” The low hum of Cat’s voice was like a purr, even unintended, but she couldn’t help it seeing as they still needed to stay somewhat quiet what with the seven other people sleeping away inside the other woman’s apartment.

“I invited you for dinner. Hours ago.” Kara tried to reason before adding. “There’s a set of leftovers for you and Carter by the way.”

Cat kept her expression schooled, despite the surprise she felt with the consideration. “I’m sorry I-”

“Had to work. Carter explained.”

Cat swallowed visibly and felt a chill crawl up her neck, eyes narrowing slightly at Kara’s tone and its possible implication but her expression said anything but what Cat was assuming.

The pair stood in the middle of Kara’s closet then, Cat weighing her next request while trying not to get distracted in the way the soft lights made Kara’s eyes stand out like pale blue beacons leading her home.

“Cat?”

“Keira.” Cat let out a breath, shoving her other thoughts aside. “I need you to keep him until New Year's Eve.”

Kara straightened, eyes searching Cat’s own for a long moment before the other woman herself straightened as Kara entered her personal space. That overwhelming defensive steak she had caught in the woman a week prior to now setting Cat on edge.

“What’s happened?” Kara’s voice was darker than a moment ago, her expression no nonsense.

Cat almost felt the need to reach out and touch the other woman, to flatten her hand across her abdomen and keep her at bay or something while at the same time realizing how imposing and tall Kara seemed when she squared up.

“N-nothing.” Cat cursed herself for her stammer feeling Kara’s eyes threatening to burn into her. “Asher’s home and my mother’s in town and-”

“You need me to keep him, so you can handle all that.”

Cat was again struck by the sudden vacancy of Kara’s defensive tone, how her stance settled and then almost seemed to drain away until she seemed small and tired and just some young woman clad in her pajamas.

“I.. yes. I don’t, if my mother’s around I don’t want Carter exposed to her.”

The defensive posture was back again, muted and not as exposed as a moment ago but the mention of Carter had easily pulled that right out of Kara again.

“It won’t be a problem.” Kara knew her own family was going to be here until New Year’s Day and at this rate, she wasn’t going to be away from them in order to watch Carter in between the two holidays.

Cat felt like she needed to apologize, she wasn’t sure why and it certainly wasn’t because she felt she was putting Kara’s family out by having Carter stay. She felt more like she needed to apologize directly to Kara, but for what she couldn’t pinpoint. She guessed it was just the lateness of the hour, showing up and demanding more of her, the stress of the day and all other random emotions that were swirling around in her right now.

“You should get home,” Kara said quieter than before, pushing down her own emotions as she glanced around at their surroundings. “Far more important things to handle instead of asking me to watch Carter from inside my closet on Christmas.”

Cat studied Kara carefully, feeling the weight of her purse suddenly and the object she had inside it. She licked her lips carefully and when Kara looked back down at her she stepped even closer.

Kara felt the object pressed into her palm, recognized the silver for what it was and the fact she had been the one to purchase it.

“What’s-”

“My gift. A real one, not something like the others I got you.”

Kara looked between them, watching Cat’s fingers drift away from her own as the woman then brushed past her.

“They really liked them,” Kara said lowly, making Cat stop even as she opened the closet door. “Those other gifts, even if they weren’t thought out like you really knew us, the intention was … it was unexpected and we’re all thankful. You should know that.”

Cat lingered there another moment, giving a small nod and letting the weight of Kara’s words sink into her before speaking again. “Show me out?”

Kara drew in a slow breath and then nodded. “I’ll get your things together.”

“What-”

“If my mother finds out you stopped by and didn’t take your designated leftovers she’ll make me run them to you. Trust me.”

Once everything was settled again and Cat was on her way back home, Kara found herself stretched out on her bed, staring at the travel frame in her possession and the pictures inside it, unsure exactly what that meant if it meant anything at all.

Kara glanced out the window then, fine-tuning her senses to the woman in the car headed back towards her home. She counted the space between Cat's heartbeats once she hears it before the slight fuss of Carter yanks her attention back to where she’s at, and she’s up again to tend to him.


	7. New Years Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new year a new start. Cat's past comes out of nowhere complicating things concerning Kara and the proposal Cat offers Asher concerning their situation

Adam stretched languidly stopping short when Lois ruffled his hair to which he shoed her away on the back of a grin that infected her and then re-infected him until they were both grinning idiots.

“You get enough sleep back there kid?”

“Which time?”

“Oh dunno, maybe in Chicago? Could’ve been when we stopped in Denver.”

“I could’ve just slept on the plane if it had been a straight shot.”

“Yes well a trip like this on such short notice calls for a little adventure with what you’re given, when’ve you ever not wanted to be part of an adventure?”

“I guess.” He put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie as his mom hugged him around the shoulders.

“Well I guess we need to eat, we’ve still got a few hours before our next flight.”

“I could do without the up and down, I can’t hardly hear anything.”

Lois grinned, offering him a pack of gum seemingly from nowhere before urging him along towards the nearest food court area for something to tide them over.

Kara was finishing up with Carter’s clothes, running over the list of things she had originally brought, and then all the things he had eventually procured through her and her family and even with her dad’s help complete with rucksack packing befitting an army ranger.

“You’re going to tell her aren’t you?”

Eliza’s voice made Kara hesitate but not stop in what she was doing.

“I can suggest it.”

“Kara, he has delays.”

“And he’s not social and he clings and he’s obsessed about dinosaurs but that doesn’t make him delayed.”

“Kara. I’m not saying he isn’t smart, quite the contrary. I’m simply saying she needs to know.”

The younger of the two Danvers women sighed before she gave up on what she was doing and looked back to her mother.

“You said yourself you’re not even sure unless you had him in the right environment to test him for what you’re suggesting.”

“No, I said I would like to test him to be sure. But he’s not my son, as a biologist I’m merely pointing out to you that he shows a variety of signs for his age that his mother should be aware of. Then she can make the best choices for him concerning that once she has all the information from his doctors or whomever else she trusts.”

Kara rubbed at the back of her neck, looking back to Carter’s things before turning and setting down on the end of her bed.

“He’s gotten so much better since I came around. He didn’t really talk for the longest time, and you and I both know that’s not gibberish he’s speaking, he’s made up his own language.”

“The fact that you and Clark can understand him effortlessly is hard to explain away outside of this family you know.”

“He’s coping.” Kara said gently, toying with the hem of her shirt.

“I know, you did the same thing.” Eliza said with a sense of remembrance as she stepped over and sat beside Kara, nuding her gently. “I didn’t think you’d ever speak anything but Kryptonese.”

“You and Dad were quite adept at learning what you could.”

“Yes well, if it meant really communicating with you, we were going to try our hardest.”

Kara half smirked recounting that point in her life, afraid she was going to lose the last remnants she had left of her world by speaking english seeming so unimportant now.

“Took Alex to figure it out.”

“She was young,” Kara argued, knowing it was indeed a very young Alex who had pulled her out of her dark places, repeating Kryptonian words at her that Kara spoke as if she knew what she was saying. Only to find something to point out to Kara and try to make her say the english words, not unlike what Eliza and Jeremiah had been doing with her prior.

“She was open, and extremely smart.”

Kara nodded, she was often surprised by just how smart her baby sister was, but then again given her parents, even if Earth’s genetics mapping and matching was even pre-infantile; there was something to be said for whatever genes had been passed along from Eliza and Jeremiah to Alex.

Just as Kal-El had received with his own parents, Jor-El and Lara and their refusal of the birthing matrix.

Unlike Kara.

Kara had gone through the birthing matrix, matched and engineered with the most viable traits of her parents and her people and all that Kryptonian science and the codex had to offer. Which had been manipulated further by her Uncle and Father as she found out after her arrival on Earth.

Prior to that however, her Uncle Jor-El had reiterated to her, that she would always be her cousin’s protector, on Krypton and then as they were hurled away, on Earth. Kara was stronger, faster, would be more powerful than her cousin could even hope. Even with what Earth and its yellow sun would provide them, Kara would still be the last true daughter of Krypton and with it, the more powerful out of them all.

It was something she now wondered about Carter, and what Eliza and Jeremiah had both noted in him. What Kara had already seen in him and how it reminded her of herself and her own coping mechanisms. There was a part of her that had hoped with his absence in his own household his parents would mend whatever it was between them. That with enough luck, Carter would carry whatever comfort and confidence he had managed to find in Kara’s presence, and by extension her family, and keep it with him when he went home. Even when she wasn’t around.

A prospect Carter was now going to be late for if she didn’t get moving once she heard the familiar hum of Austin’s car pulling up to the curb below her apartment windows.

“Austin’s here.” She allowed, causing Eliza to smirk and shake her head before pulling her daughter to her in a hug.

“Be careful my special girl, and don’t be such a stranger if you can manage it.”

Kara nodded against Eliza’s shoulder, hugging her a little too tight as made evident by the slight wince on Eliza’s behalf even if she didn’t say anything once Kara let her go.

“C’mon, it’s going to take a team of horses to get all of us down there. We can still just take a cab you know so you can get the little dino in there back to his mother on time.”

“Austin said he wouldn’t allow it.” Kara stated just as Jeremiah came to the doorway.

“Speaking of, he’s already enlisted Clark to help carry bags down and informed Cat of your delay on his behalf. You ladies ready?”

Kara nodded. “Few more things and I’ll be out.”

  
**\-------**

  
“Thank god that miserable woman is gone.” Asher sighed, downing another round of downmarket scotch with a wince while he adjusted his shirt and fixed his hair in the mirror.

Cat wasn’t far from him, settled on the couch, her own drink in hand, the chill of the glass pressing into her own forehead as she took what felt like the first deep breath in almost a week. Only to realize it still wasn’t deep enough.

“I know you always told me stories when we were back in school Kitty but I swear. It is something else to experience in person.” He threaded his tie, smoothing his collar down as he started to fasten it around himself.

Cat hummed sarcastically from her place, lowering her glass and looking back to the man. For someone who disliked her mother so much, she had always found it suspect how he liked to use Katherine’s pet name for Cat just as much.

“You agreed with her well enough when she suggested you ask me to marry you.”

Asher laughed aloud, wry amusement lacing the bark of a sound as he continued pulling his tie through with a sharp whip of noise before pulling the end around again.

“Yes well that was a lucrative deal for both of us wasn’t it, Kitty.” He tone bordered on derision steeped in truth, while his motions became a little more forced.

Cat pulled in another breath then, licking her lips contemplatively as she set her glass down and slowly pushed to a stand.

“I have one even more so.”

Asher rose a brow, leaning closer to the mirror as he tipped his chin and continued on with the double windsor knot around his neck only to feel fingers pushing his own away and undo the knot partially.

He never heard Cat approach him, barely registered her presence at all anymore really, but suddenly she was there, attentive and working on his tie as if she did it every day.

“You never really loved me.” Cat began, undoing his tie completely before squaring up either side properly and starting over. “I never really loved you.”

His jaw clenched but he did not deny the statement, watching her carefully as she focused on his throat while his hands eased to his sides.

They were always a pretty picture together, both in their lineage and the prestige each of their families upheld. Even if Carter wasn’t his son, he was passable as his father in the beginning, and when Cat and Asher had been far more visible in the public eye they were truly elite. Almost untouchable.

They had both benefitted from that ruse, then and now. His partnership in his firm was solid, the final paperwork already being pushed through for all the changes to his law firm’s alteration in namesake to his own. There was even a swirling talk of politics and how, with his favorable position in a place like National City, it wasn’t too risque to think of a District Attorney position or even Governor rank in the next few years.

“You don’t want children, my own, or our own, even if they’re a part of you, with me.”

Cat herself was reaping her own benefits of their facade of a union, despite her father’s generous change in will and assets for her. She had acquired far more than she knew she would have been able to as a single mother and no name for herself beyond the shadow of her now dead father’s previous endeavors; thanks to their ill-conceived marriage.

But with his endeavors, hers and any ambition she had towards making her own path in the world would have to take a back seat to those whims. Just like his would have to take a back seat to hers, and neither of them were willing to compromise that any longer for each other.

Something, somewhere had changed. In both of them. Neither was responsible for this more or less than the other. Aside from the timetable of course, Cat had sat long enough with it now that she probably could have fooled herself into allowing their marriage to continue even as separate individuals as long as it didn’t involve anyone else. Seeing Asher on the magazine cover, having her suspicions confirmed by it, him and their nanny had undone that possibility rather vehemently.

Ironic how in a way, both she and Asher had gone into this situation nearly three years ago with eyes open; just not without the blinders removed to the whole picture as it revealed itself to them with time.

“Nor do I, honestly, want children with you. Never did.”

Cat couldn’t be like her mother, satisfied with a union that wasn’t of her own heart’s making. Content to pretend that money and station and all it afforded was enough to tolerate another human being for your own benefit. She also couldn’t be like her father, in love with the idea of potential that someone could be, or once was. Cat didn’t doubt at some point her father loved a woman that her mother was no longer and instead had divested herself of substance and filled the gap with materialistic elitism.

Most of all, Cat couldn’t allow Carter to continue on trying to find some kind of parental figure to compliment her as his mother in random strangers that came into his life and interacted with him. Asher had never tried, never wanted to, and it wasn’t as if he should have been forced to. He was simply a stand in for someone Cat and Carter had both lost.

And a very poor one at that.

Just as Cat had served to be a stand-in for Asher and the life he had thrown away with the death of his own parents.

“What’re you getting at Catherine?”

Cat was safe, equal in status and opportunity befitting his legacy and the familial legacy he now had to uphold all on his own. Asher however, would never be satisfied with her, could never love her the way she needed and the way he wanted. And somewhere deep inside herself, Cat realized he was never going to grow up in that aspect, having resentfully forsaken his whimsical, charming, playboy manner for the image his father had longed for him to fulfill before he died.

They had both been different people when they had met initially in college, found themselves in similar social circles with families bearing down upon them in such a way that they could both relate to the suffocation. It had been easy to mess around with each other then, even half hearted and young, it kept their parents away from them then only to have made them cling more fiercely now.

They should have stayed apart even after they split for good, Cat having become more than enamoured with one of her professors and Asher having forsaken his silver spoon in favor of lower class simplicities. Both maintaining their secrets to their families until they graduated. When all hell had broken loose.

Cat twisted the knot at the man’s throat, smoothing it out easily before she eased off and started the double portion to his windsor. He rarely, if ever, used her full name, she could count only two other times, and one of those had been at their wedding.

“A divorce.” Cat’s eyes still didn’t lift, her concentration set on his tie as she continued binding it around his throat. The slight tension of his body, pulling at his chest and lifting his chin higher was enough of a response to let Cat know he was listening intently.

“It wouldn’t be immediate. We’ve managed despite ourselves to build up our marriage publicly that to break it up now will have to be done properly for my benefit and yours.”

Asher drew in a deep breath, knowing she was right, it was infuriating about her, how right she was nearly every argument or discussion they ever had. He shifted his shoulders then, clearing his throat and pulling her gaze to him. Her eyes were clear, without even the barest haze of alcohol or anything else in her system and in a way it frightened him. Clarity and absolution from this woman had always been something that scared him.

It had in college and it did now.

“Separation first.” Asher stated quietly, trying to appear every ounce her equal in this moment even if he didn’t feel it. “Gradually. My promotion alone is stressor enough, outside of your most recent acquisitions.”

Cat nodded, tightening his tie before squaring the remaining lengths against his chest. Not wanting to end this line of conversation, seeing how they hadn’t been this intense and purposeful with one another since they discussed getting married nearly three years ago. Cat reached for his wrist, pulling the connected limb up by his shirt, straightening his cuffs and reaching for his cuff-links from the small table in front of the mirror where he had set them with her free hand.

“Sell the house, unless you want it.” Asher head tipped at her then, that part was a shock, he had expected her to want to keep it after all the fuss she had made about buying it in the first place.

“Disentangle ourselves carefully, sudden movements merely draw attention to oneself.” Cat folded the cuffs of his shirt over, smoothing them against his wrist before reaching for the other arm.

“We’ll have to divide our joint assets.” Asher warned, not exactly sure of her response on that. They had both signed away themselves to a multitude of things that would need to be separated between them accordingly. His and hers. There were plenty of things already separated between them, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, private properties and inherited assets on both sides but there were others they had been required to share due to their married state.

Cat nodded just the same, knowing there was going to be a vast amount of paperwork and headache and disruption for both of them. There would be gossip and gossip would turn into tabloid and tabloid would turn into unrelenting publicity. If everything was done correctly, it could benefit them both, her moreover in the long run than him, but it needed to be handled just so.

“It’ll also account for the few rats that’ve been tailing us both lately.” There was no other way to consider those who fed off them or any other celebrity for money without their consent. “I know I made an agreement with you before Christmas.”

“About the nanny.”

Cat flexed her jaw tightly, turning his cuff over before cutting her eyes up to him and actually forcing him back a half step.

“It wasn’t fair. Though she’s still off-limits. For Carter’s sake.” Cat’s tone held no negotiation on the matter and he gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning you can do who and whatever you please within reason, but if it disrupts everything too much you’re going to have to deal with the consequences of the campaign of your character I’m going to put you through.”

Asher narrowed his eyes slightly, his hands flexing at his sides a moment before he nodded more substantially. “I’d tell you the same thing, but I’m somewhat convinced you’re some kind of automaton having an affair with your job.”

Cat let out a dark sigh, when they were in college something like that would’ve been something she would have overlooked, likened to a boyish charm he had yet to shake. Now she knew it for the slight of an insult to her character that it was.

“How easy do you want this to be Asher?”

He let out a small huff of a sigh in concession to her point. Cat was giving him, them both actually, a very easy, amicable way out.

“Besides it gives mother something to seethe over that we’re both responsible for.”

He let out another breath, giving that notion fair consideration even as Cat backed up from him, snagging his empty glass and her own still full one before calmly striding towards the kitchen.

Asher stood there for the longest moment, wondering where this had all come from. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t have a divorce settlement already worked up himself. Given the last fight the two of them had he made sure to draw them up then, but then Cat had offered him that first beneficiary arrangement for his own needs shortly after the nanny was hired.

Initially he thought it was a sortof peace offering, and there was a part of him that said he should be more cautious with her current offer. That was until he really considered the alternative. This method, however flawed and outright absurd that it might appear to anyone else, had they been privy to their discussion, was far more tactile and beneficiary in the long run for the pair of them. Easier to re-establish themselves as separate entities with separate lives gradually than to severe themselves so sharply as to cut covers across tabloids and promote scandal to follow them around and jeopardize their individual futures.

Asher glanced toward the kitchen where Cat had slipped off to as he shrugged into his vest, pulling on the edges once he buttoned it closed and checking the line it made of his torso while contemplating what could have possibly turned her in this direction just as the doorbell rang.

“Doesn’t she have a key?” He called figuring it was Kara with Carter as he crossed the house and opened the door, only it wasn’t Kara that greeted him.

He straightened with a sense of knowing, gaze running over the woman in front of him before his eyebrow rose along with the same corner of his mouth at the young man who was eyeing him in a manner he was far too used to seeing on the boy’s mother.

“Lois Lane.” He widened the door, stepping aside as he turned his attention to the woman now standing in the mouth of the kitchen with a vice grip on the doorway and growing paler by the second.

**\-------**

Kara hugged the last of her family, each of them having passed Carter around for their own little goodbyes to him as she and Alex stood watching their clan make their way through to the tram that would take them all to their proper gate and security.

“Where everybody go mama?”

“Kara, and home buddy.”

“Lex stay?”

Alex smirked, looking over at the little guy before she plucked him right out of Kara’s grasp and bounced him onto her shoulders so he could wave one last time as the departing Danvers’ and Kent’s piled into the back of the tram where the large window was and waved.

“Yup. Alex stays. For right now.”

“Going to the party at the hospital?”

“After this week, absolutely. But I promise to clean most of the place up before I have to get ready.”

“Funny.” Kara mused, waving to her family as the tram pulled away.

“You’re welcome to come you know, they said it was alright, especially since you’re just going to drop this little dino off anyway.”

“Thank you but I think I’ll just take the opportunity to enjoy the place alone to myself.”

“With no one to kiss at midnight? Not even a stranger?”

“Alex.” Kara warned, while her sister continued bouncing Carter along as they turned to make their way back to where Austin had parked and insisted on waiting.

“Kara.” Alex mocked back, wincing only slightly when Carter used her hair like he did Kara’s as an anchor to stabilize himself. “I’m just saying, live a little, besides it’s tradition.”

“Uh huh.. You just going to up and grab the first person you run into when the ball drops?”

“Maybe.”

“Don’t make me scare them off.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would too, you’re my baby sister and you’re only eighteen.”

“Nineteen soon enough.”

“Still.”

“I kiss Lexasaur!” Carter offered causing both women to chuckle. “Like I do for mommy.”

Kara frowned slightly at that, easing him off Alex’s shoulders once they got to the parking garage level where Austin was.

“Shouldn’t her husband be there for that?”

Kara shrugged, not wanting to think about midnight kisses and Cat. “I think that’s why we’ve had him this week.”

“What? Trouble in paradise?”

“Alex.” Kara bit and Alex held her hands up defensively even as she jumped into the SUV once Austin opened the door.

“Sorry, geeze. I’m just saying, I’m sure she’s going to some grand thing on her husband’s arm and there’ll be pictures in People or something by next week from whatever fancy party she’s at in some dress that could pay for my entire tuition.”

“You’re on scholarship and grants Alex. Besides, if she were going out tonight, Carter’d be staying with me or me with him, not being dropped off well before midnight.”

Alex meh’d knowing that to be truth enough to some degree but still she had to wonder.

Kara fastened Carter into his carseat before securing herself and letting Austin know they were good to go. “Like I said, I’m more than content to be home, in the quiet, at least until midnight, waiting until you get home no doubt sometime around two.”

“Hey!”

“Not like you’re drinking for one and two you’re having a party at a hospital Alex, not downtown in the middle of National City or even at the university, counting down til two thousand five.”

“A girl can dream can’t she? Geeze, thanks mom.”

Kara laughed. “I’m just saying. Austin’s gonna drop you off at home first, just in case Miss Grant needs me to hang around for a bit while I get all this stuff inside for Carter or something. No point in you waiting for however long while I do that. Then I’ll be home so you won’t have to clean so much and can spend the most of your time getting ready.”

That had been the plan, Kara had remembered it in its exactness as if she were reliving the last moments of her life as she stood in the entryway of Cat and Asher’s home. Carter was wrapped up around her, his head turning on a swivel this way and that at the people looking at him, at them.

He could feel the tension building even higher in the room with their entry even as he waved at his mother before looking back to Kara as the two of them were forced further into the lion’s den as Austin came up behind them with the rest of Carter’s things.

“At least someone had quite a beneficial Christmas.” Asher’s tone was difficult to decipher, his voice was mirthful but held some other note to it. A note Kara ignored pointedly as she looked from him to Lois and Adam and finally to Cat whose gaze narrowed on her.

“Indeed.” Cat stated dangerously. “Something I’m sure Kiera here will expand upon just as soon as I hear how you two decided to make your way here on surprisingly short notice. Or none at all.”

Lois looked between Cat and Kara, running a hand through Adam’s hair while Asher just stood with an odd smirk on his face.

“As much as I wish I could stay to hear this, I have to go.” Asher interrupted, moving over to Cat, murmuring something to her only the pair of them could hear before straightening away as he gathered his things.

“Work?” Cat said with an oddly disappointed tone that made Kara a little sick to her stomach seeing as Cat had yet to look away from her.

“With this promotion and all, have to set an example. Can’t do that here, sorry Kitty. But at least you have plenty of company in my place now.” He shrugged into his jacket then, making his way to the door.

“Lois, Adam.” He gave Kara a wide berth, giving her and Carter a simple nod before closing the door behind him.

Kara swallowed thickly as Cat picked herself up from her chair, stalking towards Kara while Carter slipped from her grasp and into his mother’s.

“Mommy mad at Ma-?”

“Kara.” The younger woman stated a little too loudly, cutting him off and moving past the two, hand awkwardly outstretched towards Lois and Adam waiting for one of them to show mercy on her and grab it.

“Sorry, I just dropped my family off at the airport and my manners apparently flew away with them. I’m Kara.”


	8. New Years Eve Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Lois have a long awaited heart to heart while Kara tries to handle Adam and Carter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very intense chapter and I was informed it should have a warning... so..
> 
> WARNING: Possible triggers of feels that make you want to throw a shoe at me. 
> 
> But seriously there are some intense themes in this chapter..

Kara rubbed her hands across her face for a moment, Cat and Lois were still downstairs while the rest of them had been relegated upstairs so the two women could chat. Or so it had been suggested over an hour ago.

Somehow Lois had convinced Cat that it was her own idea to surprise the woman, with her son to boot. That she got her address information through sources she refused to name but assured Cat they were hardly from her nanny.

What kind of caregiver would that make Kara exactly? To just casually give out Cat’s home address and propose such a thing as to have her estranged teenage son and ex-wife come visit after ten years? Cat had clearly given Kara too much credit or not enough. Lois wasn’t sure which she had convinced the other woman of, but needless to say after that little round of accusation and obfuscation, it was much safer for Kara to remove herself and the boys.

Carter was presently showing Adam each one of his dinosaurs, naming each one off accordingly with little to no correction needed. Adam for his own merit was seated on the floor with his younger half-sibling, marveling at his explanations while at the same time trying not to let his jealousy show.

Kara could see it, bubbling across his aura in small waves, tempered by the smaller Grant boy and his enthusiasm, especially when Carter would slip into his own language. It pulled at Kara’s heart watching the younger of the two try to convey himself to Adam only to see the slight confusion on the older boys face and posture. What was more surprising, however, was Adam’s willingness to attempt to understand Carter.

They had been going back and forth with one another almost like it was some kind of game and again Kara recognized the signs of familiarity and solidarity between the two of them. Adam was not excluded from his own coping mechanisms, which Carter was undoubtedly bringing out in him, while his mother’s below were triggering any manner of other things.

Kara’s attention was pulled when she heard the sound of raised voices only to turn back to the boys and find them both looking at her with the same expression.

“You ran away,” Lois stated causing Cat to whirl on her and invade her space.

“I didn’t run. I fought. I would’ve thrown my entire family’s fortune into it-”

“And yet.”

“I knew he was going to be better off with you and I couldn’t possibly be the mother he needed. I wasn’t before you pulled that custody thing.”

The pair of them stared the other down, Cat furious and hot-headed while Lois stayed calm despite her screaming on the inside. Cat was the first to concede, dropping her gaze and turning away, making for the small bar against the wall.

“Don’t hide in that.”

Cat hissed out a sound, two glasses hitting the bar top noisily. “I’m not.” She ground out between clenched teeth, looking at the number of bottles littering the glass surface as she dumped ice into both glasses.

Lois moved then, cautiously, and easily seen through her reflection in the mirror as she neared the other woman. “You could have just said Cat, I might’ve even understood it, retracted everything and come up with something else. Something better.”

Cat caught Lois’ reflection in the mirror just over her shoulder. The years had been kinder to Lois, Cat thought, her focus turned to her own pallid expression while Lois continued to speak and approach. “Wasn’t an option.”

“There was always an option. Not everything is so fatalistic in its outcome Cat.” Lois let out a breath, reaching out until her fingers graced the point between Cat’s shoulders.

The other woman tensed visibly, her hands wrapped in a vice grip around the edge of her bar while her eyes cut up to Lois’ with a dangerous expression to leave her alone. Lois, however, remained steadfast in her intention, letting her hand smooth flat against the upper part of Cat’s back.

“I know you filed, to get my attention, to make me see what I was doing to him, and to you,” Cat spoke, her tone even despite its weight between them.

“It was never to take him from you.”

Cat let out a singular laugh of a sound, it made Lois almost sick to hear it. “I gave him to you. Don’t you get that Lois.” Cat shrugged her off with a small motion, turning around to face the other woman, arms crossing under her chest as she tipped her chin upward.

“I gave him up, for his future and for you.”

Lois swallowed visibly, studying Cat’s features to try and find some other element to that statement. Something more viable and exceptional only to find the weight of Cat’s guilt and conviction towards that what she had done, and the reasons behind it ten years ago, would be the same if she were to do it today.

“You selfish, stubborn bitch.” Lois watched her words land like blows in a duel. “Now you make this about selflessness. Now. Ten years and not even twenty phone calls and this is your great revelation? You gave him up, for his own good and mine. Making me a single mother in an instant to a boy that wasn’t even mine other than in my heart.”

“You adopted him.” Cat tried as Lois stepped closer, baring down on her.

“You wanted me to.”

“So did he.”

“He didn’t know anyone else other than me and you as his parents so of course he did!”

Cat shifted her jaw, watching Lois where she stood.

“For fucks sake Cat do you even hear the two of us right now, how screwed up we are and how we’ve laid that across our children?” Lois let out a sigh, nudging Cat over forcefully as she braced herself on the bar beside the other woman, mimicking Cat’s posture with the cross of her arms over her chest.

“Our?”

“Yes, our.” Lois glanced at Cat sidelong before looking back ahead of herself again. “Adam will always be our son. Though I’m expecting you to show up next time, or at least provide a better plane ride.”

Cat looked over at Lois as if she’d been struck. “Wh-”

“New year Kit-Cat, new start.” Lois made a vague gesture to their surroundings. “I mean you seem well and settled and Adam needs to be introduced to all … this I suppose.”

Cat blinked once, then again before actually laughing. The sound was more of an odd noise of disbelief at Lois’ flippancy before it crumbled into full out laughter at the absurdity.

“Wonderful, you’ve either cracked or-”

“No.” Cat’s laughter subsided to some degree, allowing her to speak easier. “Been there, done that. Not doing it again.” Cat revealed, shaking her head slightly. “You’re here to start what, some kind of boot camp of elitism for him?”

Lois leaned into Cat’s shoulder. “Well it’s not like I’m the one who comes from inheritance and riches Cat, Imma military kid, remember. Simple, basic, grit of your teeth kind of -”

Cat shoved her off. “Oh stop. You were spoiled as hell and so is he.”

“He is not.”

“He is too, I can see your sisters' and the General all over him.”

“Better than your mother’s meat hooks. She still a frigid bi-”

“Yes.” Cat pushed, cutting Lois off at the pass, her mirth draining somewhat as she let out a heavy breath. “She just went back to Metropolis yesterday, Lillian’s out of the country, gave her tickets to Mother. So you know, she feels put upon having to find three other people to tag along with her to the party.”

“The drop party?”

Cat nodded while Lois shook her head. “Woman must know a few devils.”

“Hey.”

“What?”

“She -is- my mother.”

“Yes well, I wasn’t talking about her.”

“Ha-ha funny.” Cat huffed out a breath looking down at her feet a moment with a slight headshake.

“You may think you saved him from your family, but you sacrificed the best thing he should have had to show not all of the Grant’s are bad you know.”

Cat closed her eyes to Lois’ words, letting her head shake in disagreement until Lois nudged her again. “I was just as bad as them then. Moreso I think, for allowing them to let me believe all those things then and after.”

“Not to mention whatever your mother has convinced you of even subconsciously while she was here.”

Cat let out a dark breath of a sigh through her nose with that suggestion causing Lois to glance at her again before licking her lips cautiously. If there was one thing Lois could do, it was picking people apart just by looking at them. Cat was ripe for it and seeing her vulnerability at present.

“You going to give Carter up too because you’re convinced it’s better?”

‘What?! No. Asher doesn’t-”

“Not to Asher,” Lois suggested, the knowing gleam in her eyes striking hard at Cat’s armor.

Cat raked Lois’ features with her eyes, her chest rising and falling visibly with each breath and the nature of Lois’ suggestion. “You don’t-”

“God damn, not me either Kit-Cat.” Lois pushed off the bar then, turning on Cat so that they were face to face. “The surrogate.”

“Excuse. You?” Cat straightened, arms undone from across her chest.

Lois held back her grin and instead squared up and dared to take a half step closer. A good story always found the reporter. This was a good story, this was the stuff of legends as far as Lois was concerned.

“Who hired her?”

“Her-”

“Oh come off it Cat, the Amazon full of sunshine and rainbows up there.”

“Asher. What are-”

“Oh that, that is.. Fu..” Lois’ curse spread into her disbelieving laughter. “So when your mother is convinced, and your sister comes to town, which I’m sure she will, and you’ve got both of them at your ear. Are you going to leave Carter with her because it’s better for him? It’s easier and far more, beneficial to his well being, to cut you out of his life like you did Adam?”

Lois leaned back, Cat’s fingertips barely grazing her jawline as the other woman caught her wrist before she made impact. “I remember that too.”

Cat’s hand curled into a fist in Lois’ white-knuckled grip as the two stared at one another, those blurred lines of comfort and hurt wrapped in domestic familiarity seeping into both of them.

“He is not better because you gave him up. Neither are you. But Adam is always going to wonder why. He’s always going to question why Carter and not him. He’s not going to understand your little peace offerings every Christmas anymore to assuage your own guilt and he certainly isn’t going to learn anything from what you’ve set up for him when he turns eighteen.”

Cat tried to pull away and Lois only stepped closer, tightening her hold on Cat’s arm to keep her in the moment and not run away.

“Ten years and your excuse for all this is because you weren’t good enough? You’re. His. Mother. Cat. That was good enough. You tried in the beginning, until right now. Until he was the same age as Carter, -right now-. It wasn’t about us then, we were done, we knew that. Even if we were too stupid and wrapped up in our own bullshit and ambition not to just let us go and make sure Adam was ok.”

Cat tried again, twisting her arm and forcing the limb down on the edge of a growl, dragging Lois’ grip with her and putting them almost literally toe to toe with one another.

“Lillian wanted him. The way she offered it, how Alexander should have a brother even if he was only partially related when Evangelena was right there like she didn’t exist.” Cat spoke low, deliberate. Pushing every syllable as the words twisted her emotions.

“My mother refused to acknowledge him. Called him a bastard, -my- bastard mistake from -her- little accident. Never once did she call him Adam. Daddy was suddenly gone, we were done and all I wanted was to crawl into the bottom of a bottle.” There was a darker implication there, something Cat refused to speak beyond her alcoholism, even if it threatened to let itself be known. “All the time.”

Lois flexed her grip, keeping Cat in the moment, forcing her words out as painful as it was to hear them just as it was to see them tearing the other woman up inside. Cat’s eyes fluttered, the glass there threatening to break and spill across her face.

“I couldn’t.” Cat shook her head ever so slightly, teeth gleaming with the emotion she kept from breaking out. “I lived that life. Terrified how I was going to pay for my father doting on me once he was gone every day. The unwanted accident, passed around to everyone but my mother when all I wanted was for her to acknowledge I existed, that I was more important than the drugs, the prestige, or the parties, or the money or my own sister. All I saw, was that for him. If I had kept him. If I had kept fighting.”

Cat swallowed again, nearly choking on the sensation as Lois’ touch turned.

“He needed that no-nonsense, freeloading, smug, idiot, military brat that you were. Someone who could protect him from all that, make him feel loved and like he belonged and that he was a part of something great just because he existed and for no other reason than that. When, when his own blood wanted to make him into nothing and beat us all into the ground with it.”

Lois’ jaw flexed and with a blink she pulled Cat to her, wrapping the woman up in a fierce hug that stole the air from the other woman’s lungs. “Why, why didn’t you tell me Cat?”

Cat let out a broken laugh, her arms still stiff at her sides while Lois surrounded her. “I couldn’t, you’d do exactly what you’re doing now and I didn’t.” Her head shook minutely from side to side. “I just, it was the only thing to save him and make them leave you alone.”

Lois let out a deep breath, feeling tears burn down her face when Cat’s arms gripped her own limply, twisting at her sleeves and keeping Lois there as Cat fought for air.

“You sent the card and the flowers.”

Kara was seated on Carter’s bed, tucked into the corner while Adam was stretched across it and Carter was on his back blocking out the light with one of his toys while Kara absently played with his hair.

“I did.” She wasn’t about to deny it now, especially what with all this kid had already gone through and was undoubtedly going through all over again. Especially when both of his mother’s voices rose and fell below them.

Adam regarded her for a moment, then Carter, then the vacant space set between him and his half-brother.

“You don’t know anything, about anyone except Carter.” He wasn’t exactly spiteful in his tone, but neither was he forgiving with it either. “Why would you do that?”

Kara leaned her head back against the wall watching Adam carefully. “Were you going to do it?” Her tone wasn’t accusatory, but it wasn’t gentle either. There was something about him that told her not to be.

Not right now.

He needed raw, and he needed to be exposed and have things exposed to him. He had so many questions, even questions he didn’t even know he had in him to ask, and what he needed were answers and not to be regarded as some secret to talk around.

Kara knew that feeling and then some. She just wasn’t sure, aside from her own answers that she knew she could give him with absolution, how to protect him from 'the knowing' as she liked to refer to it. She wondered if a part of her would be happier had she never found the matrix crystal and sought out answers and found more than she ever thought capable.

“Not now.”

“Not ever?”

Adam shifted his gaze up to her, holding her eyes for a moment before looking back to his little brother. It was odd to know that, to feel it and to think it and then have it acknowledged without hesitation. He ran a finger across Carter’s temple, pulling the boy’s attention as he rambled something off to him.

“He wants to know if you want one.”

“You don’t-”

“Button want?”

“Brother  
Adam”

Both Kara and Adam corrected him, the pair looking at one another before looking at the little guy to which Kara merely deferred to the older Grant’s correction and relayed such to Carter using his own language while Adam looked between them like they were crazy.

“Badam want?” Carter reached over his head offering Adam a dinosaur as the corner of Kara’s mouth lifted slightly.

“Badam’s the Euoplocephalus.” Carter handed him the corresponding toy, turning over on his side slightly as he grabbed the other one and handed it to Kara. “Mama-”

“Kara buddy, and yes I’m the Xiaosaurus.” She took up that dinosaur and tucked it on to her shoulder, making Carter grin and giggle as he laid back again and tipped his head to look at his brother.

“I did that,” Adam said after a moment, focusing on his brother who was just watching him, studying his face and the way he held the dinosaur Carter had deemed him.

Kara watched the two of them carefully, knowing Carter was more than alright, her primary focus settled on Adam and the solar flares coming off his aura with whatever had been triggered in him. She didn’t push or pry, question or even request that he expand on that. She just observed. If Adam wanted to say something he would, if not she wasn’t about to make him feel like he had to.

“I didn’t let anyone correct me.” Adam chewed on his bottom lip a bit and Carter relaxed as if sensing he was making him uncomfortable and causing the physical manifestation of his unease.

“You know I’m not, that’s not why-”

“I know,” Adam said, laying his head on the fold of one arm the defensive nature of his words filling the air between them. “Mom’s married and has-”

“Both you and Carter to think about.” Kara pressed though he didn’t look up.

“I’m not going to pretend I know anything, trust me I’m finding out a lot of things I had not expected or had even considered, I know very little but I do know this. I know your mom loves you, she has undoubtedly an odd way to show it, but she does. If she didn’t, you and your momma’d be folded on a couch inside some hotel room long before now discussing what sights to see in this city.”

“You don’t know.”

“I said I didn’t. I said I know some things. Your mother loves you. I can see it.” Adam looked up at her then, taking note of the way she spoke that last part, brow furrowing in consideration to her conviction on the matter. Even Carter nodded though Adam assumed it was just towards what he was playing with.

“I also know there’s a lot you don’t know, but may find out about tonight and tomorrow and however long you’re here. That’s going to be very, imposing. It’s going to make you confused, and hurt, and angry and all manner of things.” Kara continued to watch his aura, watching the flares of his emotions seem to settle with her words. “But you have to remember you were very young and our parents do a lot of very, -very- hurtful stupid inconsiderate things in the name of love and protection.”

“Your parents left you too?”

Kara flexed her jaw and swallowed visibly, giving a slight nod. “My parents made me leave, with my cousin, before I saw them die.”

Adam turned his head up again at that, lifting himself to regard Kara more attentively.

“Trust me when I tell you, I did not understand. I still don’t, I’m not sure I ever will. Not with what they did and all that happened. There are answers I will never get, same with my cousin. But I have learned to some degree what a very small portion of that feels like, what they felt so magnanimously as to find no other option.”

Kara drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she finally blinked, clearing the glass in her eyes away. “I don’t presume to know why or what or if the reasons were or will ever be good enough for you, but your Mom did the same thing to you. The difference is, she’s still here and I’m not trying to invalidate anything you feel or think or want or don’t want, but you should consider what she has to offer or is willing to.”

Carter spoke again, his words coming in a rush of his own made-up language and English. For all Adam knew he could be revealing the secrets of the universe and with what Kara understood Adam noticed she swallowed heavier than even a moment before.

“Hugs,” Carter said but didn’t move, causing Kara to smile with a melancholy edge.

“Yes buddy, hugs are ok.” Kara looked over at Adam. “For me.”

Adam straightened up a little further almost feeling the implication in her tone before looking down to his brother then to Kara before he nodded once. “They’re okay.” His words were cautionary, unsure what to expect before Carter set his toy down and reached up, little fingers grabbing Adam’s shirt collar until he was brought down and they were hugging.

Carter nuzzled his face into Adam’s neck, feeling the older boy stiffen as he scooted closer so as not to strain but didn’t let up until Adam had an arm around him and was hugging him back. What surprised Kara, however, was Adam’s reach for her hand with his free one, clenching it tightly once she relinquished it to him.

Kara knew when Adam squeezed her hand after still being a near-total stranger to her, coupled with Carter wrapped around his neck she had to take another initiative. Up until this moment, she had thought the holiday was serving to allow Cat and Asher to mend whatever fences they needed in their relationship without interruption. When in fact it may have just been to solidify the boundaries of whatever arrangement they clearly and with one another.

That was the thing she couldn’t pinpoint before, the structure of Cat and Asher and their marriage and how it all fit, until the revelation that Lois was Cat’s ex-wife and they had a son together was solidified. With that, it had all slipped into place. Kara knew now why Asher had someone, or someone’s on the side, why they were picture perfect on the outside while maintaining separate beds and lives on the inside.

She squeezed Adam’s hand back gently as if making some kind of unspoken pact with him. With Lois’ arrival and her own intervention on that front initially as a means to get Cat to reconnect with Adam, it now needed to be expanded upon to include getting Cat and Lois back together. It might not be as lucrative as Adam’s arrival in Cat’s home presently but it was a new year in less than a few hours now and with it new beginnings.

 


	9. New Years Eve Parties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Lois discuss Cat, Alex runs into Asher at a New Year's Eve party while a new threat steps out of the shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a bit for an update, lots of crazy things happened and still happening in RL 
> 
> All I can say now is... strap in.. we've got some plot coming ;)

There was a soft knock on the door to Carter's room, she waited for an answer but after another second's passing without hearing one she turned the knob and pushed it open. Lois was immediately met with Kara's gaze, a single finger pressed to her lips as she tried to convey to whoever was entering to be silent or at least considerate of the situation they were walking in on.

Both women heard Cat, and Kara actually winced when Carter stirred until Lois whipped back out into the hall and Cat's voice became muffled, then surprised behind the muffle before silence followed.

A few moments after that the door was pushed further open, Lois was behind Cat and her hand was over the other woman's mouth as she guided her in until Cat pitched her head back in order to get Lois to let her go.

Kara was still tucked in the corner, or more trapped as the other two women looked on. Carter was still on his back, pressed into Kara's leg, one hand resting over Adam's hand over Carter's chest from where his arm was stretched out; Adam's bicep serving as a pillow from where he was asleep half curled on his side across Carter's bed.

Along the outer perimeter of the boys were a gaggle of dinosaurs, some half dumped, the others almost seeming to be standing guard over the two, even if that position belonged to Kara. Unless she wanted to float over them there was no way she could disentangle herself from them without waking them.

Lois had a smirk a mile wide, and with a small murmur of a whisper to the other woman, she was gone again. Cat herself remained in the doorway, soaking in the image she had seen so many times in her mind's eye. Longed to witness first hand as the dying vestiges of her dreams slipped away from her with wakefulness over and over again.

The only addition she hadn't considered, not so far as to dream about it yet anyway was Kara. She looked like some great protective creature the one often likened to fairy tales or cliché contemporaries. At a glance, she appeared relaxed but with further observation, it was easy to see Kara was anything but, she was watching over her son's, ensuring their dreams and surroundings and the world were safe beyond measure.

It showed in her posture, revealed itself in her expression and ebbed from her in waves that Cat could almost feel emanating from Kara and even extend beyond her sons to include Cat herself. The sensation was palpable, to say the least, and stole the very breath from Cat's lungs.

Their eyes met momentarily and Cat almost started with what she saw there before the ounce the Kara allowed her to actually see of herself in those blue eyes was gone in a blink. That look further retreated with the sound of a camera shutter, and another, and a series of others as Lois caught a few images with her camera before realizing she had intruded on something else.

Kara smiled gently and looked back down to Adam and Carter before leaning her head into the wall and seeming to relax now that both boys mothers were present.

“You should get up,” Lois said as quietly as possible.

Cat had an arm around her own ribs, her other hand gently touching the sides of her face a moment before she seemed to remember where she was and within whose company.

“Clearly they've both been run into the ground with everything.” Cat supplied, stepping closer but making sure not to make too much noise. “You probably have your own New Year's things to get to.”

Kara shook her head slightly, slowly starting to move as Lois stepped closer until she was at the end of Carter's bed, offering a hand even as she braced herself on the wall. If they did this right, Kara could use the lip against the wall of the bed to edge up on and with her socked feet edge out with Lois' help.

“Glass of cider, take out and an empty apartment.” Kara offered politely, gripping Lois' hand carefully and utilizing her own abilities to take some of the strain off as she half stepped half floated over until she was on the ground with a small thump.

“Oh, that's not going to do,” Lois said, wincing as she caught Adam stirring before he nestled himself back down and the three women retreated, inching the door nearly closed before stepping out onto the second-floor overlook.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to-”

“Nonsense you haven't done anything. Has she Cat.” Lois supplied, turning to look at the other woman who still seemed like she needed a few more moments.

Cat's features weren't red but they were swollen, eyes somewhat puffy and still a touch bloodshot. Her nose was rubbed pink and the vast majority of her makeup from earlier was gone. Lois didn't seem to notice one way or another but Kara. Kara found Cat to be even more sight-stealing the less she had on than when Kara had first arrived.

“No.”

“You should stay.”

“Oh no, I..” Kara gave a soft laugh, looking between Lois and Cat a moment while rubbing the back of her neck. “I've got plenty I need to do and besides my sister might need me to get her later and-”

“She's at Pharos.”

Kara looked past Lois to Cat with her interjection and nodded, she wasn't going to ask how Cat knew that, though she guessed it was from whatever background check she had run on her entire family for the gifts she bought them.

“That's closer to here than it is there.”

Lois looked from Kara to Cat and back again before smirking again. “Settled then. You stay here, we all enjoy a nice dinner, bring in the New Year, if your sister needs you...you cut your time in half.”

Kara licked her lips anxiously, looking to Cat again, unsure if she should be excited at being invited or if she should decline because it wasn't Cat doing the inviting.

“She has a point. Unless you needed to get home to someon-”

“No. I, no just me and Alex and she's at the hospital with her group and all so...but I don't' want to impose or-”

“Nonsense,” Lois stated, nudging the girl before winding around her and looking to Cat. “Right? She can stay can't she Kit-Kat?”

Cat threw daggers at Lois for that one and drew in a dark breath as a result, though Kara noted her look softened slightly when Cat turned her eyes back to her.

“As I said, your sister is at Pharos, if she needs you it will be far quicker to reach her from here than there. Besides Carter will undoubtedly be upset if you just leave without saying goodnight to him.”

“Settled then. You come with me then, Kit can get changed out of those high-end entanglements into something far more casual and comfortable and we’ll figure out what’s to be had.”

Lois was already pulling on Kara’s wrist to go downstairs even if Kara could only seem to look at Cat, trying to read her expression as she was drug past.

“I’m perfectly comfortable-”

“A straight jacket is more comfortable, woman. Just, play casual or something c’mon.” Lois ushered while Kara adjusted her glasses and the pair tromped down the stairs.

Cat watched the two women descend, arms crossed under her chest, jaw shifting as she hid the small touch of amusement at Lois’ prodding and caught the edge of her bottom lip in consideration as Kara sent one last fleeting look her way before she disappeared under the stairs headed for the kitchen.

She turned, still looking after the space Kara had occupied for a moment longer before following the pitch of her hips and heading back down the hall, hesitating only to ensure the boys were still asleep in Carter’s room before slipping into her bedroom.

Lois pushed her way into Cat’s kitchen like she owned the place, though clearly had no idea where anything was as she started to rummage through cabinets.

“Anything you’re looking for Miss-”

“Ooh, nono. Ha, you’re not calling me miss, nope it’s Lois or nothing Kara.” She tried another cabinet before turning and setting her back to the counter. “And I’m looking for enough food to feed a teenage boy with a bottomless pit of a stomach and the rest of us.”

Kara twisted her mouth up, making a bit of a face as she came to settle against the island. “Going to be hard pressed there. Most of the food is Carter portioned and I usually bring my own food half the time or buy it with groceries for that day.”

Lois tipped her head, looking at Kara for a long moment, eyes running across her frame before seeming to understand her implication.

“She’s not eating is she.”

“She?”

“K-er. Cat.”

Kara flexed her jaw and drew in a deep breath. “I’ve offered to cook and make sure everyone’s fed.”

“She’s way too prideful to accept that, and I doubt she wants to actually sit down to a family style meal with Ash and wouldn’t dare allow herself to be seen as vulnerable or human were she to just sit down with Carter and yourself.”

Kara tucked her lips inward, chewing on the swells a minute without comment before Lois hmm’d, eyes narrowing in consideration before she pushed off the counter and came to stand on the other side of the island opposite Kara.

“You look like you wanna say something.”

Kara felt her chest heat up, thankful the worst of the flush there was hidden beneath her shirt collar. “You, you’re rather familiar with her even after-”

“Years apart?”

Kara nodded and Lois grinned, folding her arms over one another and leaning onto her elbows, looking up at Kara with a knowing expression.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to-”

“Get personal?”

“Presume.”

Lois continued to grin and scanned over Kara’s form once more. “You care, it’s your job, I get it. This, me, Adam, here in her home interacting with Carter and drudging up all manner of things in his mother is enough to give you pause for concern. You’re attached to the little guy, being his nanny’ll do that.”

Kara lifted her chin slightly, looking down at Lois from the bridge of her nose. “It’s more than that.”

Lois let out a gentle chuckle. “I just bet.”

Kara’s eyebrow rose into her hairline and just as she was about to say something more the shrill noise of her cell phone rang from the other room.

“Oop.. see, lookit the time, midnight in Metropolis already.” Lois straightened and was out of the kitchen a few steps later leaving Kara alone and wondering what had just happened. She looked to the clock, and winced at herself crossing the room and pulling the house phone from the wall.

“No, I don’t want to know your reasons, Asher.” Kara nearly crushed the phone in her hand when she heard Cat’s voice on the line, not having realized the woman was on it. “Remember what I said about discretion and this being done in steps. It’s been a few hours and you’re already telling me you’re going to be gone for another week? At least you’re telling me now I supp-”

Kara quietly hung the phone back up, turning her hearing to Cat’s voice, while trying not to further eavesdrop, waiting until she heard the phone upstairs nearly slam into its cradle before she dared pick up the line and dial her parent's number.

“And there she is.”

“Hi, Eliza..”

“Alex beat you to it.”

Kara shook her head slightly with a half smile, figuring as much. “Happy New Year.”

 

**\-------**

 

Alex stood in one of the labs assigned to her and her group, checking over one more slide as she stained it, placed it under the scope viewer and looked into the dual port.

“What are you…” Alex narrowed her eyes, changing the magnification and watching the cells on the slide before making her notes mentally. She wasn’t sure who she could even attempt to share and theorize what it was she was looking at but utilized her eidetic memory in order to bring it up to her mother the next time she was able to talk to her at length.

“Alex…?”

The woman ignored her name, knowing she still had time before the owner of it, and undoubtedly the rest of the people with them found her. She narrowed her eyes again, altering the magnification one more time before she heard the click and changed the slide out, palming the other one with ease.

“Alexandra!”

“What?” Alex semi-sing-songed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, I mean they said you were a prodigy, but come on it’s New Years. We’re all dressed and they’re about to open up the hall to-”

“Okay alright, I know, I just wanted to finish one last thing before I forgot.”

“Ugh, come -ON- baby girl, it's the only time you get to show half that shit in your face off around here.”

A lab coat smacked her friend in the face and with a laugh and with a grin from the one with all the 'shit' in her face, the pair were out the doors headed for the main hall.

“I’ll be amazed if you don’t get anyone or thing caught on that nose ring alone.”

“It’s called skill, which last I checked you were still working on.”

“Ha-ha funny Danvers, c’mon let’s go already!”

As they rounded the corner the pair of them met up with the rest of Alex’s intern group, each one of them dressed to the nines. It was the first time Alex had been a part of something so extravagant. Granted there were plenty of things to be had in Midvale and Smallville, like prom, but nothing as grandiose and involving as a place like National City.

The city’s entire hierarchy was supposed to be there, this was the premier event of the year benefiting the hospital for one and of course other charitable endeavors to kick in the New Year for two. Outside of being an intern, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance for Alex or the entirety of her class to even watch people arrive at this thing.

The main lobby and half of the eastern wing, which was namely cafeteria space and common area, had been relegated to this function and one would never have known it was a hospital until they transversed the surrounding hallways. Then again you never would have known the group making their way into the heart of the hall were interns to look at them.

They were all in some semblance of black tie, including Alex who wore a crisp white angled vest, sans sleeves and black satin bow tie. True to her current phase in style at the moment, she also wore a kilt-esque wrap of black at the waist over the tuxedo pants she had tailored to fit her. Her hair was down, which hid the majority of her piercings at least until she pushed her hair behind her ears or threaded it back between her fingers.

“Live it up boys and girls, might not be here next year after all our tests and life and junk.” Alex hung her arms around the shoulders of a couple of her fellow interns. “Lord knows we won’t be invited to one of these things unless we’re sitting on a stuffy board somewhere in forty years.”

“So optimistic Danvers.” John, one of the hopeful surgical resident applicants responded.

“Realistic my friend, I’m being realistic.”

“Shut up and mingle already, half these people are going to be giving us grant money in the next couple of years, best to get in the on ground floor now.” Jesse, one of the interns from Alex’s first years sounded as hungry for that opportunity as she looked.

“Alright children, let’s straighten up and act as if you belong here.” Their hospital overseer chimed in from behind, causing them all to turn as he took each one of them in, narrowing his gaze on Alex for a moment but letting it slide for now.

“While you are interned here you are representing the future of this hospital, whether you get into any programs or residencies in the coming years. That includes tonight, now the majority of you are of age of drinking save a few of you, while the bar is open it is not open to you except for one glass of champagne courtesy of the Hospital’s board at midnight.”

The few younger interns looked between them, including Alex who didn’t seem to mind she wasn’t going to get alcohol tonight, it wasn’t exactly a wanted factor for her to enjoy an evening anyway.

“I expect you’ll conduct yourselves accordingly, see this as the privilege it is and if we’re lucky there won’t be any negative impacts from this tonight. Have a good evening, be safe and try to enjoy yourselves.”

There was a round of ‘yes sirs’ and ‘okays’ before their handler drifted into the din of party go-ers which of course set the example for the others as they drifted away from each other and absorbed themselves into the gala and its complement of National City’s elite.

After about an hour of jack-jawing and mingling, Alex was in the midst of a conversation about some kind of biological invariant that she was working on as a thesis when she felt a hand surround her arm, pulling her attention to it.

“Can I help you?”

The grip flexed momentarily before slipping away and if Alex could flay someone alive with a look, this would be the time.

“Sorry, just seemed a shame not to test the muscle of one Pharos’ new arrivals.”

The pair Alex had been talking with seemed unamused and with a glance, the conversation she had been holding with them was lost as they drifted away, leaving her and the man who had touched her arm.

“Such a shame the reason your nose isn’t broken is only that I don’t want blood on my new shirt.”

The man laughed, boisterous and annoying. Alex looked him over again, noting his arrogance and assumed charm that clearly had disarmed some women prior to now but was merely serving to irritate her.

“I like you, you’ve got attitude.”

“Can’t say I feel the same.”

“And candor.”

“In droves,” Alex spoke into her glass, taking another sip of her cider while scanning the crowd for a better opportunity and conversation.

“Are those real?”

Alex turned back to him bemused and eyebrow raised.

He nodded towards her ears, barely brushing her hair aside before she snagged his wrist and twisted, pressing her thumb into the space below the juncture where it met his wrist and stepped closer.

“No one, certainly not me, gave you permission to touch me.”

The man winced and tried to retract his arm but only felt her press harder and caused him to grunt as sharp pain lanced up his arm.

“You do realize, even as an intern, I know about 50 different ways I could kill you, or at the very least severely maim, with my fingers before you could even think to say help.”

“Teach you that in school do they?”

Alex twisted harder, making the tendons strain and his nerves relay all manner of complaint to his brain. He stepped closer, bending at the waist slightly while trying to school his features from the pain running through his body.  His hand was numb, his wrist felt like it was going to snap and his forearm twist and break with it like a chicken wing. Needless to say despite the situation he was just as impressed as he was turned on.

“You do know I could fund your entire remaining medical training in this hospital without so much as a thought. I think it’d be worth your consideration at least.”

He swore quietly as she turned his hand up, pushing the appendage back towards his forearm while still pressing into the juncture of his wrist even harder.

“Asher!” There was a smack on the man’s back and instantly Alex let him go, stepping away with a clenched fist. “My boy, where’s Cat tonight, I’d thought with her new position on the board-”

Alex refused to look away from the man even with the interruption, feeling a sense of deep satisfaction when he was the one that turned his gaze away to regard the man stepping beside them.

“She’s a little under the weather, and of course has our son Carter tonight.  Couldn't convince the nanny to keep him.”

Alex felt all the air sucked out of her lungs as the realization of who the man actually was hit her like a two by four. She swallowed thickly, setting her glass on a passing waiter's tray, fists balling at her side as she stepped to Asher’s unoccupied side.

“Touch me again, they’ll admit you.” She offered a gentle smile to the man opposite Asher before slipping away, weaving through the throng of patrons until Asher couldn’t see her anymore.

“If it isn’t Cat’s husband, Anders right?”

“Asher.” He corrected tightly, as a woman and her husband he recognized from the clubhouse he and Cat were a part of. “Mr. and Mrs. Kelly right?”

The woman nodded while her husband seemed less welcoming to the man.

“When are we going to see her outside of all this work she’s doing around this fair city of ours? She's becoming quite the mogul if I do say so.”

Elsewhere, buried deep below any festivities being had by the majority of the world, footsteps resounded easily, alerting the woman tucked away in her lab to her company. She changed the magnification one final time at the same she had on the slide, narrowing her gaze before straightening away when three figures came to a stop near her lab table.

“I see you refused to come willingly.” The woman spoke in gentle tones, nodding up towards the two men on either side of the smaller figure.

The black hood over the boy’s head was pried away just as the woman rounded the table and set herself on its edge, hands wrapping around the black surface while her legs crossed at the ankle.

“We had to hunt him down, ma’am.”

The woman in question tipped her head, looking over the young prodigy with a small shake of her head thereafter and a quiet repeated ‘tsk’ of a sound.

“Have I not taken care of you?”

The young man, no more than fifteen maybe sixteen stood practically shaking between the two much larger men and nodded over and over.

“Did I not put you in a better home, better schools?”

He continued to nod, looking around the darkened underground, or so he assumed, laboratory setting before his attention was pulled back to the woman as she rose from the lab table.

“Do you think you can follow directions right now then?”

He nodded again, arms wrapping around his body as he watched her slip out of her lab coat and replace it with a fitted blazer.

“Walk along with me Winslow.”

The woman walked along, her heels striking the concrete floor with a resounding staccato that did nothing for the boy’s heart beating twice as fast.

“You do understand why we have you do this?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He answered quietly, gripping his arms and trying to keep just beside her but never ahead of her.

“Unless you’re willing to teach someone else-”

“It’s not something you can teach.” He argued and she turned to regard him only to have him shrink back from her again.

“So you keep saying.” She stated with an edge of firmness she hadn’t had prior to now.

“I-I -I’m sorry it.. I just, it’s patterns and processes and-”

She reached over then, setting a hand between his shoulder blades, ignoring how hot and wet his shirt already was by being in his current situation and surrounding.

“It’s alright Winslow, we will figure out something so we don’t have to keep doing this. Right?”

He nodded, looking to the door they stood in front of, memorizing the numbers etched into its surface while the woman typed in the entry code.

When the doors slid open Winn felt sick to his stomach as if a thousand shards of frozen glass were suddenly embedded into his insides. There in the center of a room he continued to see in his nightmares was a singular pod-like structure. However, they managed to power the thing was anyone’s guess but considering the number of pipes and tubes feeding into the backside of the thing.

As the woman behind him ushered him forward the sickly blue illumination within the pod came to life, illuminating the gaunt features of the woman stuck within it. The length of her hair was nearly stark white now where it had just been faded from a darker luster when he first happened upon her. He wondered many times after if his finding her in a place, not unlike this was a sheer accident or intended by some other force.

“Now.” The very awake and very imposing voice of the woman beside him patted him on the back. “If you would be so kind as to pull her out of stasis enough for me to get a few samples please and then return her to this state.”

Winn tangled his fingers together, looking at the woman inside that pod, knowing she was dying, that whatever was being done to her once he carried out the orders the other woman gave him he was indirectly responsible for.

“Are… are you ever going to let her wake up?” He questioned cautiously glancing to the taller woman before looking back to the pod with a slight wince as if half expecting to be struck for his question.

“When I can control her. Absolutely.” The woman walked around the pod, fingertips tracing over the glass bubble, completely disregarding the creature within it and what she was doing to her. This wasn’t about this thing’s liberation or freedoms, it was about making her family stronger and ensuring others like this one were never, ever allowed to walk unattended or free. “Until then she proves too much of a danger. Like a wild animal. You understand that don’t you Winslow.”

He nodded a bit, looking at the pod and the woman within it again before leveling his gaze on the woman standing behind it. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Lillian, Winslow, I’ve told you before you can call me Lillian.”

“Y-yes M-m-m-miss Lillian.”

“Now be a good boy, get me what I need and I’ll make sure that foster home of yours and everyone in it gets what they need Winslow.”

Lillian patted his shoulder gently, nudging him all that much closer to the pod as she made her way out. She learned the first few times it was far easier to watch him without being in the room. What she nor any of the others working with her had figured out what he had, or how to mimic what exactly he had managed to figure out with that pod and its controls or language.

“We have four other subjects ma'am, sedated and waiting for transfusion.”

Lillian nodded from behind the two-way glass, tracking Winn as he talked to the figure in the pod as if the creature could hear him before the boy began pressing the first series of controls on the pod itself. She noted they were different every time Winslow had done this and they had only managed to decipher three out of how ever many actual glyphs it held. Whereas Winslow’s finite natures had managed to decipher the language with an effortless totality but he couldn’t figure out how to translate it into something viable for their organization to use.

It had taken a round of torture and a very potent series of drugs to get even that revelation out of him. Best as she could understand it, he was a sort of conduit, selected by the pod and thus was given proper knowledge and access, coupled with a translation fail-safe. It was as impressive as it was infuriating, but she had let it slide and in turn shown her finer natures to the boy to make him more compliant.

“Notify project management and officers in charge of the newest additions, give them a four-week timetable for results.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She turned her attention back to Winslow, seeing the lit panels change colors and functions and lights inside the pod grew brighter but the subject within it did not rouse.

“I’m sorry about all this,” Winn said under his breath, moving around the pod as images were displayed to him clear as day. The only reason he knew what to do was from whatever holographic figure had appeared to him like some kind of princess in his own Star Wars moment and told him he was worthy of the pod's nature and inherent secrets.

Of course, once the Doctor had caught him a few moments after he never saw that projection again, and doubted if it ever showed up once more that it would consider him worthy what with all he had done since. He looked to the woman in the pod again, feeling his insides twist as he looked down to the controls and started punching a whole new set of commands into the thing.

"But I'm going to make it right."


	10. New Years Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Kara usher in the new year until trouble shows up on Cat's front door with unexpected consequences for everyone

Alex slipped out of the main area housing the bulk of the gala and New Year festivities letting out a deep breath and running her hands through her hair to try and ground herself. She hadn’t talked to so many people about so much nothing since before she tested out of her basic courses and had to glad-hand for grants.

She reached down to her waist then, feeling the slide and its cover she had placed in the pocket of her cummerbund knowing she needed to get it to her mother somehow. Her thoughts on that matter were interrupted with the quiet clang of metal on the tile that Alex easily recognized as an instrument being dropped from a tray or counter.

Alex turned towards the noise, hearing the typical sound of two people hooking up, she’d heard it enough in passing a few rooms on late shift but this area should have been the farthest any resident or doctor would even think to sneak off into. She made her way down the hall, catching movement near one of the exam rooms as her hand flattened on the panel and forced the gap wider.

She straightened slightly, trying to make herself appear slightly smaller than she already was easily recognizing the girl against the wall, dress pulled up and hands clawing at the man’s who was holding her up. Jesse let out a sharp gasp, a faint series of laughs escaping her after as she grabbed the man’s jacket even tighter.

“Promise you’re going to leave her….and the brat?”

Alex saw white the second the man’s profile was revealed, his familiar voice confirming what her eyes couldn’t see any longer as he said it was already done. There was another gasp followed by a shout and the harsh crack of Alex’s knuckles against bone before Alex was pulled at and shoved at as others who had heard the initial shout came to the doorway.

Asher was up in an instant, already wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth as he adjusted himself before turning, eyes narrowing on Alex as she backed up and out of the room while others moved in to help the other two. By the time Asher could relay what happened and Jesse identified her, Alex was gone.

  
Kara slipped into the kitchen with some gentle excuse from the others, Carter still on her hip as he refused to be put down for the moment. Adam and Lois maintained their attention on the TV and made to get ready to make as much noise as possible while Cat looked on as the ball in Metropolis finally lit up meaning there was a minute left to go.

Kara let out a slow breath, pushing past the weight of melancholy and infinite sadness that poured itself into her nerves at the thought of another Earth year. It happened every time, most often without prompt and sometimes not until well into New Year's Day. Another year to remember she wasn't home, another year to forget more finite details of her family.

She closed her eyes, pushing back her emotions and overwhelming memories as they played themselves out in her mind's eye, ending always on the last image of her homeworld when she refused to close her eyes and it went from fire to cold nothing. She hated fireworks for that reason, there was no way around it, aside from having closed her eyes perhaps when it occurred but even then. Even at eleven, she refused to relinquish herself of even one more memory of home no matter what it was.

Kara didn't hear the start of the countdown, nor did she even know Cat was behind her, having slipped into the kitchen a few seconds before.

“Mama kisses?” Carter asked gently as if sensing her state of being. With a blink she was back, giving him a thousand watt smile as she leaned down and kissed his cheek where he turned and kissed her own.

“Happy New Year Carter.”

She felt his body pull against hers, hand making a grab for the air and pulling her attention causing her to stiffen slightly when she saw Cat staring at the both of them.

“Mama kisses!” He exclaimed, his words jump-starting the woman just inside the doorway to move. Headed for him and already leaning in when he grabbed for her only to find his little cheek gone and in place was Kara.

The sensation was warm, fleeting and chaste and caught both of them unawares as they broke apart nearly as quick as they had come together. While all manner of noise and shouts and ruckus erupted from the other room.

The pair of them stared at each other for another heartbeat, Cat could visibly see the other woman breathing as if to control herself. Kara wasn't sure what she was supposed to expect, seeing the first truly passionate flares come to life like some great fire across her aura had seized Kara completely until Cat's gaze fell from hers and down to Kara's mouth.

They were a few inches apart, leaning back into one another as Kara looked down to Cat's parted lips.

“I can't...” Her voice was barely a whisper, cresting over Cat's mouth and into her throat so quietly that she didn't even realize she had given a voice to it.

Carter leaned over then, just as Cat started to straighten away as if struck. “Mommy kisses now.” He pushed up using Kara as his brace, kissing Cat on the cheek before looking over to Kara, making a little grabby fist at her. “Mommy kisses.” As if that explained everything in the world.

Cat swallowed visibly, gently taking hold of Carter's free hand trying to find purchase on her shirt as he said it again, trying to make Kara understand it was Mommy's turn for kisses now, hers were done. Kara felt as if her heart was going to break through her chest looking at the other woman then the little boy before she eased him over to Cat's waiting arms.

“Ma-Kara's gotta go, buddy.”

Carter looked confused, looking from Kara to Cat as if she would explain. “But Mommy kisses now.”

Kara drew in a sharp breath through her nose and smiled, nodding before looking at Carter. “Yes. Mommy kisses, from you ok, you give her kisses. Adam too, make sure Adam too ok? Kara's gotta go get Alex.”

Carter gasped gently, bouncing a bit in his mother's arms. “Lexarex kisses!”

Kara looked back up at Cat, feeling almost sickened with herself as she saw those brilliant red flares sputter and die away. “Yes, buddy.” She cursed herself internally when her voice broke. “I will give Alex kisses for you, I promise.”

Cat shifted Carter's weight, wrapping him up in both arms as Kara actually stepped forward causing Cat to stiffen as she looked up at the other woman.

“Thank you, Cat, for.. for a better new year this time than even I thought I deserved.”

Cat wasn't sure how to respond to that and by the time words did reach her Kara was gone with the swing of the kitchen door.

Lois was there a half second after, concern etched on her face. “Everything okay?”

Cat bounced Carter gently as he played with her necklace while nodding, bottom lip threaded between her teeth.

Lois frowned, easily reading that look on Cat and stepping further aside just as Adam came bouncing in.

“Badam!” Carter shouted, making grabby hands for him. “Badam kisses!” In his enthusiasm Cat relinquished her hold on him as Adam came closer and Carter put a kiss on the kid's forehead.

“Mommy, Badam kisses!”

“I know baby I know.” Cat tried gently, unsure if she could handle being rejected by her other son right now only to oof quietly when she felt the older boy's arms tighten around her waist and nearly throw her off balance while Carter mimicked his brother and wrapped Cat up around the neck.

“Hey, Kara, what's your hurry?” Lois was on the top of the steps suddenly while Kara paced the sidewalk.

She should just go, Kara had nearly run back inside just as soon as she got past the threshold but after all that and the way Cat had looked at her and the warmth she still felt coating her insides. She needed to go, and fast and now before she ruined everything.

“I have to go my, sister she's going to be by herself and-”

“Kara? Kara, slow down.” Lois made it down a couple of steps before Kara was looking at her intently.

“You should go inside. Back with Cat and Adam and Carter and... she's going to need you what with Asher and everything and-”

“Kara...Kara!” Lois grabbed the other woman by the shoulders, pulling her attention with a sharp shake of a motion only to realize Kara's eyes were glassy and swollen, her cheeks flush and the level with which she was agitated practically pouring out of her.

“What happened in the kitchen?”

Kara flexed her jaw, and her fists and held Lois' gaze as long as she could before shaking her head slightly. “Nothi-, no not noth-I just, the cab'll be here soon and you can't, you can't let her go again not with Adam and especially Carter and-”

“Wh-uh... Hold on there. I can't what?”

“Let Cat go.”

“Go...?” Lois looked beyond confused.

“Asher isn't good for Carter, he barely even considers him, and I know I'm talking out of turn and it's not my business and I shouldn't but-and I know you both had problems before and she, she gave up because she had to for her own reasons I'm sure but this time-”

“Stop.”

Kara did just that midway through another word while Lois looked back to the house before coming to stand on even ground with the other, possibly deranged, woman.

“Tall thing..” Lois murmured and pushed them to another set of steps knowing the neighbors were gone since all the lights were off and if they weren't they could deal. “Are you, you think I'm here because I, that she, that we..”

Kara nodded to all the implications Lois was making only to feel even worse when Lois broke down into pure unadulterated laughter.

Kara glanced back to Cat's house then to Lois, then around the street side wondering if Lois was having some kind of break until the other woman started to cough and nearly choke on her own laughter before she used Kara as a means to pull herself back up.

“Oh... oh god... I think I nearly peed myself.” Lois let out another set of chuckles and shook her head while Kara just stared at her like a deer in headlights.

“I came because of your note Kara. That you sent with the flowers. I thought maybe, -maybe- if someone cared about her as much as you seemed to and risk all that just to get Cat and her son to see one another and -try- to form some kind of relationship. And on Christmas no less, I'd be a worse person for not even trying to consider it.”

“But, you and Cat, she.. -”

“Don't work.”

“Wh-”

“We were far better friends than we were lovers and don't even get me started on being married to each other. God, it was exactly like they say.”

“Who?”

“People, ball, and chain, the old battleax.. that whole thing. Cat and I were never in love with one another. Don't get me wrong, we love each other, pretended that was enough I think, and my family and her family, and with Adam and everything we were both dealing with and working towards and trying to be.”

Lois sat on the step, pulling Kara down with her unceremoniously. “Look, I wouldn't trade it, not any of it because I wouldn't have the things I do. Even with all the heartache and pain and drama it, it's worked out this way for a reason. But Cat and I, we should've stayed friends. Cat and Adam, should have had ten years together or at least every other but I can't change that, neither can she. But with your note, it made me realize I was just as guilty as she was for not trying.”

Kara blinked and blinked again. “You're, you don't want-”

Lois shook her head back and forth slowly. “No. I have wonderful parts of Cat, and she of me, but we just don't work that way, we never did. I had to grow up a bit to realize that.” Lois drew in a deep breath, looking over the ball of anxiety and chivalry beside her.

“I -do- want my friend back, but I have a lover thank you, it was too short notice for her job, otherwise she would have been here with us. Good effort and intention though, I think, on your part. Maybe.”

Kara let out another audible breath, her expression falling even further as two words beat into her brain along with the look on Cat's features when she said them before she rubbed at her face from under her glasses.

“You know.” Lois shouldered Kara gently. “Knights usually ride white horses, wear suits of armor and slay dragons.”

“I don't ride anything, don't need armor and I slay dinosaurs,” Kara said between her fingers while Lois grinned unseen.

“So you admit it.”

“Admit what?” Kara huffed and pulled her features free, propping her chin on them but not daring to look at Lois.

“You're trying to be her white knight.”

Kara didn't respond, just stared at the stars and the glow of fireworks going off all around them. What a way to start a new year she thought before the squeal of rubber on asphalt pulled both women’s attention.

Alex tore around the corner, coming from the opposite end of the street at full throttle before jolting to a halt and throwing the kickstand out. She was up and off her bike before the other two women could say a word to stop her, traipsing into the foreign nature of the home she had no business being in.

“Cat!?” Alex stepped further inside, “Cat Grant?!” She called turning to see Lois then Kara, the latter of the pair looking more confused than anyone.

“Alex what-”

“Where’s Cat?”

“Why are you shouting?” The sought-after woman just seemed to appear, eyes running over this newest addition’s frame, eyeing the satin of the tux pants and was that a kilt? The leather jacket was second hand, there was no way this girl had worn in all that hard leather and studs and goodness how many things were pierced on this child.

“Your husband is a useless dick.”

Cat rose a high brow and Kara started towards Alex to shush her only to have Lois grab Kara’s arm and keep her in place.

“Tell me something I don’t already know.” Cat tipped her head like her namesake trying to count the number of hoops and studs that greeted her. “Who are you?”

“Alexasaurus Rex!”

Alex spun again, hearing Carter and feeling her heart ache a little. Why did someone so innocent and smart and capable of worming his little self into her heart have to have a father like Asher. The little boy in question was currently held up by his older brother, piggyback style although now he was struggling to be put down before rushing to Alex.

“Alexasaurus kisses!” He shouted as she leaned down and grabbed him up, pulling him close as he held her face and kissed her cheek.

Before Cat could say another word her cell phone went off, followed by Alex’s.

“Cat Gr- wha…. Incident?” She looked back to those standing in her living room, only just now noticing the split knuckles on the hand of the woman holding her son up. “J..no. Listen. I will handle it, Tuesday. Yes. Tell him to suck it up until then. Yes, you can quote me. How many people involved?” Cat turned, slipping off into another room then.

Alex ignored her own phone, knowing what was going to happen, but she’d manage. She could find another program, another hospital, something. Right now she didn’t care, right now she wanted to bask in the little three-year-old reason she felt was worth sacrificing the path to her future for.

“Alex..” Kara cautioned, slipping away from Lois once Adam came close to his mother, the pair of them acting as observers to a very odd and continuously developing situation. “What-”

“I hit him.” She said nuzzling Carter before turning to give her sister a much more serious look. “I caught him, with an intern.” The siblings conveyed an entire conversation between three looks, there was more there than Alex was revealing. With a bounce of the three year old between them before Alex turned her gaze to him completely, giving him a warm smile that pulled dangerously at Kara’s insides.

“And the first place you thought to come was here!?”

“Momma can I get a piercing when I’m-

“Not now Adam, take your brother into the other room okay?”

“Bu-”

  
Carter hummed in amusement before pouting as Lois plucked him out of Alex’s arms, passing him off to Adam.

“Go play buddy, ok?” Alex pushed offering a tight smile to Adam almost as an apology while his mother ushered him and his sibling to the hall.

Kara stepped into Alex’s space then, hovering over her and keeping her voice quiet. “You -hit- him?! Alex, he’s a lawyer.”

“Don’t care.”

“You should.” Lois was back, headed towards the front again and to the window to check. “You just assaulted him and now you’re in his house. If he’s going to press charges and the police find out you came here…”

“They’re going to think you might be going after him.” Kara finished.

“What? Why? I’m half his size and -”

“He’s a powerful defense attorney and his wife owns half the city-”

“You have no idea how much I do or don’t own.” Cat interrupted the three of them, her tone giving no room for argument.

Kara straightened with it, pulling her sister to her and slightly behind her while Alex looked practically mortified and Lois stood across the way behind them giving Cat an incredulous look.

Cat eyed Kara first, noting her posture and her stance, before shifting her eyes to Alex and ignoring Lois completely.

“Don’t say another word. Just listen to mine right now. You two are going to turn around, and go home.”

Kara’a jaw flexed and Alex started to protest only to shut her mouth with the look Cat shot her. Even Lois frowned at Cat’s implication but kept quiet.

“You dropped Carter off like you were supposed to, enjoyed the frivolity of the holiday until your sister called you to pick her up. Understand?”

“Cat.” Lois started coming closer to the two other women before Cat lifted her chin and relayed with another look there was indeed no room for argument from anyone.

“Go home. Both of you.”

Alex tugged gently on Kara’s shirt back but her sister refused to move for the longest moment.

“Go home.” Cat tried to assure them both but her tone left little room for it.

“What about-”

“Don’t worry about Carter, go home and I will let you know when you can return.”

“Cat.” Lois pressed crossing the room to meet her only to have the woman in question eye her up and down, saying a million things before Lois seemed almost taken aback.

“Go. Home.”

Kara felt her muscles twitch with the two words, wondering if that’s what it had felt like when she said what she had in the kitchen before swallowing thickly. “C’mon Alex.” She whispered, easily pulling her younger sibling with her as she made her way outside.

“Kara… no.. wait.” Alex shrugged out of Kara’s grip, holding onto the door frame when Kara grabbed her by the back of the jacket. “Cat...er...Miss Grant, I’m sorry... I didn’t, this isn’t her fault or-”

“Alexandra Danvers, let go of my door and do as I say.” Lois nudged Cat at that before the two Danver’s sisters slipped out of sight.

Kara was on the bike before Alex could argue, starting it up easily as Alex backpedaled down the steps and then climbed on behind her sister.

Cat waited until she heard it pull away with a squeal of rubber before she let herself relax only to find herself off balance when Lois shoved her.

“What the hell was that all about Kit?”

“I’m on the board at the hospital Lois.”

“So fucking what, that was... I don’t even know what that was but it wasn’t-”

“I’m trying to save her damn future! If she’s not here and she does what I say they’ll both be fine.”

Lois let out a disbelieving laugh, giving her head a shake. “Unbelievable.”

Before Cat could say anything there was a honk outside and Lois actually let out another string of curses about timing.

“That’s my cab.” She lied, as Cat’s gaze cut to her.

“You’re not-”

“No, we’re not. We might’ve but it’s too much to try and explain already.”

 


	11. New Years Daze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara remebers a divisive moment from her past as a result of Cat's actions involving Alex. Adam and Carter come to an understanding and Asher comes home to Cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to 2005 in this universe

Kara parked the bike easily, kicking the stand out and rocking the thing forward to engage the brake lock across the front wheel. Alex was off a second before, remaining silent as she watched Kara secure the thing and chain it to the space allotted them before making her way towards their apartment building front.

It wasn't until they were inside the apartment proper that Alex spoke, and not until Kara was half undressed, her sweater vest flung unceremoniously against the bed before she set her hands on her hips and tried to breathe in a calmer manner.

"I'm sorry." Alex said, her voice so quiet and enough to make Kara's chest ache with its genuinity.

Kara bit at her bottom lip, her fingers flexing around her hips to keep them from fisting up as she drew in a deep breath and let it out through her nose. "It's fine." She allowed, knowing it was anything but. The situation was so far from the realm of fine it made Kara's head hurt.

She would have to find a new job, though finding one that carried the same weight, especially financially as this one was going to be difficult. Knowing Kara she would have to find two, and somewhere in the back of her mind she thanked Rao for not requiring her to sleep like a normal human. Gods knew she had done enough to make up seven lifetimes in the phantom zone.

Kara also realized she was going to have to call their parents, it had been difficult enough to allow Alex to come out this far away from home, despite all her grants and scholarship offers, even with Kara promising to watch out for her. Now it was just a proving point, one more disappointment in another line of disappointments that Kara had somehow managed to fulfill not only with her foster parents but her actual parents as well.

Instantly she recalled being eighteen again, telling both Jeremiah and Eliza that she was sorry, that she had to do this, had to follow through with the things set out for her. This legacy, even if anyone she was upholding it for was long since dead and gone, that she had to fulfill. They had never tried to talk her out of it, merely to consider what the legacy of a dead civilization could ultimately provide her.

She hadn't known at the time, nor would she have changed her choices then or now, but it all served to swirl inside her and add to the growing turmoil settling in her shoulders now.

_"What about school? Your plans, I mean I know it's not exactly Krypton Kara, but you made all these choices for yourself and-"_

_"And it was wrong." Kara had been defiant from the jump. Already having made up her mind before even bringing her intentions up to Eliza or Jeremiah._

Looking back on it now she realized if she hadn't felt so guilty about it, that she was essentially doing something she shouldn't, regardless of the fact this family was from Earth, they were still hers, she never would have told them to begin with.

It was in that moment that Kara realized she had chosen them, accepted them, allowed them to fill that void, only to be forcibly reminded of her true purpose upon arriving to Earth.

_"You can't mean that, Kara." Jeremiah tried, glancing up towards the stairs just to be sure Alex wasn't there before turning his attention back to Kara and his wife._

_"I can, and I do. My parents, my Uncle and Aunt, they did not send me here to make choices and live my life like this."_

_"This life is not something to push aside Kara." Eliza said with a conviction that stung Kara to the core but she tried not to let it show._

_"Neither is the one I left behind," Kara said straightening up looking between the pair of them. "You don't have to like or accept any of this, we can argue and fight about it or you can just acknowledge that I have to do this. That I am going to do this, with or without your approval. I don't need it but I thought courtesy alone was warranted-"_

_"Then why tell us at all," Jeremiah stated and kept Kara from arguing her point further. "If you already knew, decided, intended on this without regard of anyone or anything else, why tell us at all."_

_"Jeremiah." Eliza cautioned, setting a hand on his forearm but he remained in place, Kara and he locked away in each other's glare. There was a part of them that had always known this was coming. If the pods beneath their house were any indication. It was a far shorter time to have had Kara, that she knew. Martha and Jonathan would have Clark far longer, but it didn't make it or Kara any less significant a part of their family._

_And she was most definitely a part of their family._

_"Don't you want her to go to school?"_

_Kara had just been about to speak, her voice having been locked away in her chest with Jeremiah's parental tone and stance, only to have Alex's voice shatter her resolve. She saw it break just as easily across Jeremiah's expression, even Eliza showed signs of its impact and with it, Kara knew. She knew why they were fighting with her, knew why she had to tell them, why she sought their approval to carry on a long dead legacy, to carry the weight of this impossible mantle for her family and people and planet all dead and gone._

_"Of course we do honey." Eliza started, breaking away from the other two in order to reach Alex and try to detour her into another room._

_"I don't understand. You tell me I can and do and be anything why is Kara excluded?"_

_"She's not excluded honey it's just different."_

_"But I-"_

_"Alex go back upstairs." Jeremiah said none too gently and Kara's jaw flexed at his tone._

_"No. I want to understand. You both say if I don't I'm allowed-"_

_"Not this time Alex."_

_"Jeremiah." Eliza warned and Alex broke away from her mother to look up at her dad, glancing to Kara who refused to meet her eyes before turning back._

_"I. Don't. Understand." Alex pushed again and Kara felt her hands curling into fists._

_"Neither do I." Jeremiah said honestly although the admittance even made Eliza wince. "Don't ask me, or your mother. If you really want to know little bug, you ask Kara. This is her life after all."_

_Kara knew that was coming, could see the opening for it a mile away but refused to get out of the path of destruction. When Alex turned her attention to Kara then she made another choice, just not one she had even realized until years later, after she had left the Danvers' home._

Without prompt Kara's mind jumped to the next definitive memory milestone.  Standing inside a shoddy excuse of a replacement for Krypton.  Surrounded by the hollow reminder of her lost homeworld and the great crystalline structures that had been reserved for Kryptonian council chambers.

_“That is not your choice to make.” Her Uncle stated harshly,while her Father tried to intervene only to be silenced by the stronger voice of his older brother. “This is her destiny Zor-El, as it was the minute we formulated this plan for our children.”_

_Kara whipped around on the two, eyes blaring with her anger. “Of course it is mine to make. It’s -my- -life!-” She growled and both the image of her father and Uncle stared at her as if they had unleashed some great inconceivable beast._

_“The only thing you formulated was our death sentence! Mine and Kal-El’s! How, how could you think, the two of us, would want to carry on this legacy of DEATH AND DESTRUCTION!?” She let out a shout as her emotion overwhelmed her, sending white hot glaring heat across the crystalline chamber, liquefying it._

_“That is not a legacy, that is an attempt to right the wrongs, the hubris of men and women who refused to acknowledge what the gods plainly and clearly laid out for them.” Kara reared on them, causing both manifestations to step back from her as she kept her voice measured and controlled._

_“It cost me my aunt, and mother a sister, and she was right! In the end of it Aunt Astra was right. We were dying, and instead of fixing it you let it happen. You stopped fighting, both of you. And in some sick and twisted sense of righteousness, decided your children would make up for it all by sending them away.”_

_Each step was like thunder in that chamber, every word a lightning bolt of truth and condemnation. ._

_“Marooning us in the phantom zone. Abandoning us to ourselves on a primitive planet so that you could claim, somehow, that you were the herald of Gods!? You convinced our mothers to relinquish us, on a false hope that we would be better without them. That instead of family and familiarity, even in those last few moments, we would instead have our entire known existence destroyed right in front of us. Burned into every synapse and replayed over and over and -over- again like a never ending phantom.”_

_Kara’s hands were fists at her sides, ground almost seeming to shake beneath her as she continued._

_“Instead of giving in to the inevitable, accepting what had been allowed to happen, what you -all- allowed to happen. All because of Krypton’s council and elder’s gross incompetence and negligence; you, YOU decide to take my future, Kal-El’s future, doomed as it was already, and make it impossibly worse.”_

_The conscious remnants of her father and Uncle refused to look away from her, one proud despite her words and the other pressed into the defensive._

_“You allowed my dreams to turn into nightmares, and the ghosts of my memories to become Kal-El’s monsters! And for what?! To save us?”_

_Kara edged closer, the suit they had made her forgotten where it was encased in Kryptonian crystal. The emblem of her family crest blazing across it ignored. The mantle of her family’s great history and her place in it thrown aside. The legacy of Krypton replaced with another of her choosing._

_“You condemned us, just as you did those to the phantom zone, to Fort Rozz, the only exception being this. Those individuals actually did something to warrant being judged and outcast. Unlike me, unlike your son Kal-El.” Kara swallowed thickly, glaring between the two men. “He and I, we were just born under the great house of El.”_

_“Kara Zor-El, you are the last daughter of Krypton. Accept this or-.” Jor-El began in a warning, boisterous tone until Kara rushed right up to him in less than a blink of an eye, living memory or no._

_“MY NAME, Is Kara Zor-El -Danvers-, my -home- is Earth and my legacy, my future, just like Kal-El’s, is my own.” Her eyes blazed again, as if daring her Uncle to speak while her father gripped Jor-El’s arm to try and silence him._

_“Kelex, terminate the interface.”_

_Kara saw both men grow shocked at her outburst, trying to counter her command before they were both snuffed out of existence in front of her. She was on her knees before she knew what hit her. All the air seemingly sucked out of her lungs as Kara braced herself on one hand, the other was digging into her chest as she tried to remember what oxygen felt like within her lungs._

_She barely registered the Kelex unit offering her assistance before she shook her head. She waited until her eyes started burning before telling the unit merely to gather her things, minimal as they were, and to give her the fastest route back to Midvale, by air and land given her new found depth of abilities before even allowing herself to cry._

_Kara cried for her world, her family, for her memories and the naivety she had clung to for so long concerning the truth of all things that had brought her to Earth. Only to find them all to be falsehoods and pipe dreams conjured up by her Uncle and worst of all, her own father._

“Kara?”

Kara opened her eyes, jolted back to the present and Alex. Pushing aside even more ghosts as she turned to regard her sister, blinking away the haze of her memories. Taking in her younger chosen sibling, her reason, among many, she had claimed to defy her extended purpose, her Kryptonian purpose outside of caring for Kal-El.

“I know Alex.” Her voice was rough, dry from lack of use and try as she might, she couldn’t seem to chase away the sensation no matter how hard she swallowed.

“You’re going to get kicked out,” Kara turned further, facing her sister. “If he presses charges, I can’t, I’m not sure how much I can interfere, they could take you to jail-

“But he-”

“If they arrest you,” Kara pushed at a slightly higher volume over her sister. “Alex you can’t be a doctor if you have a record.”

“He was fucking an intern. He’s -been- fucking an intern. She called Carter a brat and-”

“You punched him not her.”

Alex let out a huff, running her hands through her hair before dropping down on the edge of her sister’s bed with a frustrated bounce.

“I didn’t mean, with Cat and god your job and Carter, what’s going-”

“Whatever his mother wants.”

Alex looked struck a second and looked up at Kara. “How, how can you be so flippant?”

Kara tipped her head at her sister. “As opposed to?”

Alex shrugged.

“I’m just his nanny Alex, not his or her advocate.”

“Yeah but you, you’re-”

Kara crossed her arms over her chest then, eyeing her sister. “I’m not Alex, I am.. Was, just his nanny.”

“You’re his hero!” Alex blurted before standing back up and pushing at her sister even if she wouldn’t budge.

“Maybe you will be once he finds out the trouble you saved him by knocking his father out, once he’s older of course.”

“Really!?” Alex let out a growl of a sound in frustration. “Really. I don’t, I just don’t get it Kara. You can do, these things I could only dream of doing, you even promised Mom and Dad if you had to you’d use your powers to take care-”

“Of YOU Alex, you, not Cat, not Carter, not the world. I promised I would take care of you, that’s it.”

“I don’t understand.”

Kara swallowed hard at that statement, eyes cutting to her sister in warning.

“I don’t.” Alex stated, holding her sister’s gaze before pushing her hand through her hair. “But I won’t ask for you to explain it.”

“Being passive aggressive about it isn’t going to get you what you want either Alex.”

“Then explain it to me!?” Alex shouted, already terrified of the answer, the last time she asked Kara to explain, really explain something to her colored her trepidation.

Kara straightened, looking down at her younger sister with no intention of budging until she saw the bloodshot of Alex’s eyes and the glassy pools threatening to spill over.

“Alex-”

“You’re going to go away again aren’t you.”

Kara’s brow furrowed. If anything, that statement wasn’t the one she had been expecting.

“What?”

“Like before, when you went to school and you just, stopped, everything.”

“Alex-”

“No. Listen. You listen to me, when you left, I know I was little but I wasn’t stupid and Mom and Dad refused to explain it, refused to tell me where you where or why or anything. You just left, you told me you had to do this thing for you and Clark, then school, and I thought, we’ll be okay. It’ll be alright and then nothing.”

Alex’s voice grew small, her next breath a shattered remnant.

“Nothing.” She sniffled, “you just left. You fell off the planet Kara, and for a little bit I thought, I hoped maybe you had.” Alex, gave a rueful laugh, shoving a hand under her nose with another sniffle.

“I thought, I hoped. Maybe, just -maybe- you found your home and it wasn’t lost and you wouldn’t be so sad anymore. But then Clark was still around and then you came back after two years; I thought my sister came back. But instead, you just took Clark’s pod and yours and then nothing.”

Alex cut her eyes to Kara, tears spilling freely, hurt and anger written all over her features. “It was like you died.”

“Alex if you’ll let me-”

“No. Not this time, you don’t get to leave again, no matter what happens you don’t get to go wherever you went just to come back even more broken but pretending like nothing happened-”

“I had to!” Kara shouted, instantly shutting Alex up.

Kara never shouted, not like that, in jubilation perhaps but never like that. Alex swallowed visibly, watching the heat recede from her sister’s eyes, longing to reach over and take her hand but kept still as the other woman breathed herself into a calmer state.

“Don’t you get it?” Kara sighed to herself of course she didn’t, none of them did, she never bothered to relay anything of what had occurred in the years she had been gone. “I had to go then. My pod, it had a crystal in it.” She spoke as if that explained away all the questions in the known universe. “And this crystal, it was a part of Krypton.”

“You left us because of a crystal?”

“No, I left because of what that crystal was engineered for.”

Alex furrowed her brow, studying Kara carefully, the weight of the world seemingly settled upon her sister’s shoulders.

“Kara…? What did you do?”

Kara flexed her jaw, shoving at her cheek and the wetness that crept there before giving her head a shake.

“I made a choice, that’s all. Just like you made one.”

Alex reached over then, pulling her sister’s hand into the grasp of both of her own, squeezing as tight as she could, knowing she couldn’t possibly hurt Kara even if she tried.

“Tonight isn’t about me right now it’s about you and Cat’s-” She huffed, not even wanting to call him that. “It’s about what you did to Asher Ellison and what he’s going to do to you and how I’m going to try and stop it.”

**\-------**

 

Lois let out a huff of a breath, letting her body fall backwards onto the bed of her hotel room with a bounce. She just barely let her eyes close when she heard the knock on her door, a tight lipped smile marking her features before she pulled in a breath.

“Yes my prince?”

Adam merely gave a guffaw of a noise at her, edging the door open as Lois propped herself up on her elbows to look at him.

Instantly her brow furrowed and she gestured with her head for him to come in further. Adam padded across the room, already in his pajamas and hair a mess from his rush to get into their comfort as he bounced onto the bed and stretched out beside his mom so that they were shoulder to shoulder.

Lois looked him over for a long moment and he her before she gave a nod to which he answered and they both laid flat, heads nudged together, eyes cast to the ceiling.

“Do you want to go home?” Lois cautioned, knowing whatever his answer she was going to fulfill it. Bringing him there had been a lot, seeing his mother after so long even more. Add to that Carter and his carefree acceptance, the whirlwind of Kara and her sister, on top of the New Year and what it was supposed to bring instead of what it was dishing out in spades.

“No, not yet. I still have another week before school starts back.”

“A whole week.” Lois teased, glancing to him before looking back to the ceiling.

“A few hours isn’t enough to make that kind of decision.” Adam said.

Lois couldn’t help but feel proud at that, she hadn’t been lying to Kara when she said she wouldn’t have changed a thing before now, save maybe a stronger relationship between Adam and Cat but that was their current milestone. Sure there was a part of her that wondered what her life would have been like if Adam had stayed with Cat, and she alone. For all she knew his father might’ve tried to show back up, taken custody of him on some kind of whim or something.

How different they all might be, and given the current situation Cat was in, there was a good possibility it could be far, far worse.

“So…?”

“Carter’s going to need someone to watch him until Mom figures everything out with Kara and her sister.”

Lois looked at him directly then, watching him side eye her as if she couldn’t see before turning his head to look at her.

“What?”

“That’s very grown up of you.” Lois said, studying her son carefully.

Adam shrugged, looking his Momma over another minute before turning his attention back to the ceiling. “He was really upset after she left.”

“You calmed him down.”

“Exactly. I promised him.” He glanced to her again then back up. “He has to know someone keeps those for him.”

Lois nodded, swallowing thickly at the emotion settling in her chest.

“You’re very right.”

“Mom’s going to be busy with… everything, Kara’s not going to be allowed to come around if the way she acted was any indication.”

“What are you? Fourteen going on fifty?”

Adam smirked a bit. “No, maybe, I dunno. I just, Mom was better, I think, not like I know or anything but everything changed so fast once Kara and Alex were gone.”

Lois couldn’t help but chuckle at the way he said the latter Danvers sister’s name. “Oh, right.” She nodded, glancing over to him then back to the ceiling. “You notice her nose ring?”

“Looks better on her than other girls. I can have one when I’m eighteen too right.”

Lois thwapped him with a pillow before he could react. “Adam James Grant-Lane.”

“What?!” He laughed looking over at his mom.

“You didn’t even say hi to her.”

“Well no, you and Mom were too busy shoving Carter and I in the back.” An odd look came over his face then, one Lois knew all too well. “Do you think she has tattoos?”

“Adam.”

“What? She came in on a motorcycle, she’s got all those piercings and they look -good- and her hair was soooo long and her jacket and she punched Asher-”

“You were supposed to be watching Carter.”

“I was, it’s not my fault if none of you have a volume knob.”

“Such language.” Lois feigned being shocked as the pair of them chuckled a bit. “You know she’s older than you.”

“By like four years..”

“Mm.. I thought girls were gross.”

“They are.”

“But-”

“She’s not, she seems…. I dunno.. Capable.”

Lois couldn’t help but laugh, only to have it muffled with a ‘moooom’ and a pillow to her own face.

“That’s it? Capable.”

“You said that about Diana.”

“Yes, because I saw just how capable she was Adam.”

“So I shouldn’t say that about Alex?”

“Maybe not until you’re sure? Besides, let’s say she is capable, maybe I don’t want her to be capable around you. Don’t forget, Cat is your mother and Kara is her sister, -they- may not want her to be capable with you either. I’m not going to assume anything but you don’t think that’s a bit of a dangerous venture to consider there prince?”

Adam huffed again, mulling that little prospect over and the reality of the situation. “You make it sound so weird.” He made a face, crossing his arms over his chest as he shifted higher on the bed only to have Lois give a short lived ‘ow’ at him before lifting up a bit.

“What in the world is that?” She poked at his leg, feeling a hard plastic-like object poking back at her.

Adam seemed to sober up a bit then, the mirth from a moment ago shifting aside in place of something more meaningful than a minute crush warranted.

“It’s a Talarurus.”

“A whata roowhas?”

“Ta-leh-roor-us” He fished into his pocket before pulling out a dinosaur figure that looked like any ankylosaurus he ever learned about but Carter insisted that this was indeed named something else. “Little man gave it to me, wouldn’t let go until I did.”

Lois nodded slightly, looking over at him again before turning her focus to the figure he turned over in his hand. “How do you feel about that?”

Adam shrugged again, running his fingers over the club tail. “Good?”

Lois studied him carefully before reaching for the toy. “Looks really strong...protective.”

“He had to be sure I had it.”

“You okay with that?”

“I dunno.”

“Then why did you take it? It wasn’t to make him be quiet, you’re smarter than that. You don’t do things without thinking them through.”

Adam pulled at his shirt a little bit as Lois shifted, turning on her side and propping her head on her fist, using the other to walk the dinosaur figure across his chest.

“Honey. It’s not a bad thing to want to connect with him, or to feel things you don’t understand but have a kind of obligation to all of a sudden. Just know that I nor your Mom are -expecting- anything from you ok?”

Adam nodded, his gaze still somewhat far off as she watched the dinosaur before putting his hand over where it now rested along his sternum.

“He didn’t hesitate.”

Lois tipped her head closer, his voice having dropped to a much quieter almost whisper of a thing.

“And that upsets you?”

Adam shook his head, pulling in a deep breath to ground himself.

“No. It’s just, I’m not used to all this and I don’t want you to think-”

“Adam, stop. I would never, ever think anything bad about you, your thoughts, how things make you feel. Especially this. He’s your brother.”

“I know. That’s why Alex is capable.” He sniffed, wrinkling his nose as if it were just an itch and not emotion. “He deserves better.”

“Who?”

“Carter.” Adam clenched his teeth a bit, drawing in a deep breath as he looked to the dinosaur figure again. “He deserves a better Dad.”

Lois let out a deep breath, chewing on the inside her bottom lip.

“You know he’s not his real dad.”

Adam shook his head, not looking at her just yet.

Lois shifted closer then, letting her arm fall, running her fingers through his hair.

“He does deserve better, and just like Kara, I can’t think of anyone better than you to show him that this week.”

**\-------**

 

“Mama and Alexasarus not say bye.”

“I know Carter I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“Cause they didn’t-”

“Not you why. Mama why.”

Cat let out a small sigh, legs curled under herself where she sat on the floor inside Carter’s playpen with him. She had tried to take him to bed but he refused.

-Kara- and Alexandra couldn’t, Mommy had to make them leave really quick.”

“Why?”

“Because “ Cat started as Carter’s eyes lifted to her from his pen of dinosaurs, feeling her heart melt a little further. She scooted closer, watching his attention focus even moreso on her. “Alexandra did a very valiant, very thoughtless but well meaning thing.”

She watched him nod, doubtful he understood her vernacular but continued regardless.

“Kara is her sister, and they could get into a lot of trouble.”

Carter nodded again. “Like Badam.”

Cat swallowed thickly before nodding. “Yes, like Adam. Mommy made them leave to protect them.”

Carter handed her a dinosaur, she knew which one, the one he always labeled as her. “They coming back?”

“I dunno Carter. Mommy wasn’t, very nice about it.”

He looked up at her again, scooting closer until he was against her legs and propped between them and the ottoman serving as a barricade to his pen.

“Appolaguise.”

“Apologize.”

“Yes. Appolaguise, say love you. Be ok.”

Cat closed her eyes for a half second, running her hand through his hair gently as he continued to look at her in earnest.

“It should be that easy, shouldn’t it baby.”

“Yup.”

Cat couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her lips with the pop of his last syllable, easing him from the floor and into the comfort of her arms as she hugged him.

“I’m sorry Mommy got loud, made everyone leave.” He fidgeted a little until he got into a better spot, leaning into her so he could hear her heartbeat. “Mommy loves you baby, very very much.”

“I know Mommy. Love you too.” He drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as his body weight seemed to relax almost completely into Cat’s arms. “Be ok. Tell Mama, be ok.”

Cat brushed a kiss to his temple feeling him relax only for both of them to startle with the slamming of the front door. She felt Carter cling to her and instantly felt her hackles rise as she shushed him gently sending Asher a look that should have dropped him when the man actually paused to take her and Carter in.

Part of her was glad to see Alex was more bite than bark.His shirt was ruined, lip busted and eyes already turning black from where he had been punched, by the look of it more than once despite Alex’s singular mention. Course Cat hadn’t bothered to ask for too many specific details, if any, all things considered.

He undid his shirt further, hooking his fingers around the broken knot of his tie, ripping it off with a sharp whip of a sound before glancing to Carter then Cat again before he strode off towards his bedroom.

Cat contemplated putting Carter to bed then, intent on confronting Asher but when her son turned into her further, tucking his arms up against the flat of her chest and bowing his head down under her chin she changed her mind.

“Sleepy little prince?”

Carter shook his head despite giving a yawn into her shirt. Cat smirked gently, easing herself off the floor with Carter easily wrapped up in her arms. She cradled his body effortlessly, one arm around him while her free hand smoothed up and down across his back.

“I barely got to hear about your adventures.” She whispered into his temple, causing him to stir and perk up a little bit, his sleep addled voice mentioning the Danvers and Kent’s; that he had things to show her outside in the dark and she promised they could bring the stars inside for next time. Not entirely sure to what he was referring she had an inkling of an idea and would look into it tomorrow.

Cat helped him into his newest pajamas, thanks to Kara and her family, making sure he didn’t fall over where he stood, or back when he sat. All manner of dinosaurs littered his bedclothes, even the snaps were dinosaur footprints. She helped him under the covers, tucking him in and watching as he turned over and curled up to sleep.

The faint knock on the door yanked her attention, a hand still resting on Carter’s back protectively as Asher gestured that he wanted to talk to her. With a shift in her jaw she was up and across the room, folding herself into Asher’s personal space while sequestering her son away from him with the closing of the door practically against her back.

“Don’t” Cat warned, her voice a hiss of a sound as Asher started to speak and she leveled her eyes on his. “You’re going to listen, and maybe, just maybe this time, you’ll actually retain it instead of putting it through your own playboy filter.”

He started to speak and she reached up then, finger hovering over his mouth but she didn’t touch him just silenced his protest to her tone.

“You’re going to apologize, to the board. You should have gotten medical personnel instead of helping that intern with whatever issue she appeared to be having that one of her fellow students mistook for something else.”

Asher actually rose an eyebrow at her, he had expected her to be furious, to kick him out yelling and screaming. Not calculated and calm, authoritative and easily more decisive and strategic than he could hope to be with the situation that he had tried to fumble out of.

“Both interns are going to also apologize. To the board, which I will accept on your behalf to save some kind of face on that front for you. And they’re also going to apologize to their program director. -Both- women will be on a probationary period after a weeks suspension, unless they wish to be transferred elsewhere.”

Cat retracted her finger like a claw, the limb returning to her side as she waited for his response.

“I get no say in any of this?”

Cat tipped her head at him, her expression one rife with annoyance to which he merely let the edge of a smile show at her exasperation with him.

“You’re lucky I was able to do -some- kind of damage control. Really Asher what were you even thinking, you may as well have burned the olive branch I gave you this morning.”

“That-”

“-Girl- is the third you’ve been caught with Asher. If we go on the images already printed, however blurry they may be, you’re lucky this isn’t worse than it already is. Or could get, you’ve been spoiled with how careless you’ve gotten with me, other women are not going to be so forgiving, especially the young ones.”

“Oh worse for who Kitty, you get what you want I’m finally getting what I want.”

She shifted her jaw at him, even as his expression relayed he hadn’t meant that entirely how it sounded and yet.

“If you would rather this be public and swift and ugly we can do that too. I wasn’t kidding earlier when I swore I’d make your life hell. Or maybe that’s the point, right? The more humiliation, the more publicity the more scandal the more attention you get. Women fawning over you and falling at your feet to defeat the cold hearted beast at home.” She heard Carter stir slightly and dropped her voice, stepping into Asher’s personal space again.

“That was your one chance Asher, and I’m barely allowing it especially considering how my son was mentioned in all this.”

“I would ne-”

“Never defend him. I know. He’s not yours, even if he served enough of an image boost for you, doting father and all.”

Asher flexed his jaw, keeping his mouth shut for once as she practically seethed in front of him.

“I’m going to bed. I suggest you do the same, unless you still have those plans you mentioned before this whole fiasco.”

He didn’t respond, at least not verbally as he eyed her another long moment until his shoulders relaxed from their defensive posture. She watched him take a step back before she herself seemed to relax into Carter’s bedroom door, waiting until there was sufficient space between them before she turned and slipped back into her son’s room.

Cat set her back against the wooden frame, leaning into its solidity, eyes scanning the ceiling until she heard the door down the hall close with a resounding click. She let out a quiet exhale then, glancing back over to her son where he had settled back down, surrounded in a nest of sheet and blanket.

Her fingers were through her hair a moment after, the light since turned off, the fan humming from the ceiling as it turned while tired feet carried her to the chair set in the corner. She unfurled the blanket set across it and unceremoniously crumbled into the cushions, resting her head against the corner there, overlooking her son while looking out the small window afforded to his room.


	12. The Week After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A week goes by with no resolution much to Kara's unease, Alex has to appear before the hospital review board and Carter has a proposal for his mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2nd week of Jan...

It was Sunday before either woman heard anything from anyone concerning all that had happened during New Years. Kara was first, her phone ringing easily enough and the look on her face told Alex all she needed to know about it being Cat.

Which of course it wasn't. It had been Lois, who thankfully her sister had explained in a little further detail just why so many women and children had actually been in one Cat Grant's house when Alex had bombarded it with her presence prior.

Alex let out a huff, listening to her sister while not actually listening to her sister's conversation, the wait was torture enough. She hadn't even heard a word from the hospital, not even with her absence during the week from it. Even school would have served as a partial distraction aside from the fact that it wasn't back in proper session until after this coming week.

She heard Kara wishing Lois a safe flight back and that if she needed anything to not hesitate to call. Her family wasn't too far from Metropolis so it wouldn't be too terrible a trek to have to make should Lois need anything.

Clearly, based on Kara's sudden quiet nature Lois was undoubtedly imparting some heartfelt knowledge upon her sister. Alex watched as Kara nodded unseen and spoke quieter than before, something about work and that she needed to see other things through first before really considering that but was grateful beyond measure.

Alex turned her eyes back down to the menu in her grasp, contemplating if it was pizza or Chinese tonight for the two of them when Kara edged up to the island opposite her.

“You alright?” Alex asked without looking up, turning the menu over as she eyed its contents.

“Yeah. Lois says hi by the way, and that she is going to blame you if her son ever comes home with piercings once he's old enough.”

Alex grinned and actually laughed a touch, looking over at her sister who was smiling just as wide. “I'll take that as a compliment. Besides, -I'm- studying to be a doctor, appearances be damned, ceilings shattered-”

She was going to add another comment until her phone chimed at her from across the kitchen. The pair of them glanced over then back to one another before Alex moved, recognizing the caller ID and hurriedly flipping the phone open while Kara straightened against the counter edge.

“Danvers.” She said calmly, even if Kara could hear her heart starting to pound into her chest. “Yes, sir. I underst-..yes. Of course, tomorrow,” Alex glanced over at Kara then who tipped her chin up slightly, bracing herself for either impact of what was being offered to Alex currently.

“I. I would respectfully, wish to stay with the program, six months. Yes. I-” Alex swallowed hard, looking to Kara who stepped closer before her attention went back to the other end of the line. “I agree to present myself in front of the board and Mr. Ellison tomorrow morning at eight am.” Alex searched the air a minute before nodding ahead of her response. “Yes. Thank you.”

Alex heard the linen die before she pulled the phone away, closing her phone with a hollow snap before turning to Kara who was looking at her expectantly.

“Jesse quit. Er.. she quit this program she's transferring out.”

Kara rose a brow at her sister. “That's it?”

“No, I, I have to appear in front of the hospital board and my program director. To apologize for my behavior towards a situation I misread.”

Kara frowned slightly, while Alex just kept standing there, almost as if she was in amused shock. “Mr. Ellison was attempting to render Jesse aid for a condition she should have disclosed prior to her internship agreement. While they commend me for my actions they also mentioned that he should have gotten medical help before attempting to help her. Had he done that I might not have read the situation wrong and acted accordingly.”

“Wait.. what?”

Alex actually laughed, leaving her phone on the table as she rushed her sister and wrapped her up in a hug, knowing Kara would easily catch her when she leaped at her.

“I'm on probation!!” She called through her laughter. “Holy SHIT!” Alex hugged Kara hard enough to suffocate her before just letting go and allowing Kara to put her down.

“What in the name of-”

“He's not pressing charges. He's saying I read a situation wrong. Jesse's leaving the program, he has to apologize to the board and us and us to him and the director and I get to stay. I mean I have to not fuck up for six months but I get to stay!”

“What?! Alex that's, that's so amazing, and lucky and weird and oh my Rao you have to call mom and dad.”

Alex did a little dance in a circle with a little ta-dah at the end for dramatic flare before heading for her phone again. “Call that place with the sticker things, I'll buy, we're gonna celebrate.”

Kara nodded while Alex dialed home and bounced across the apartment to tell her parents and when she was sure Alex was out of sight she let the facade drop away. The last thing she wanted was to take the moment away from Alex, to ruin a good outcome to an even worse situation but she immediately thought of Cat. There was no way, not in any capacity with the way Asher was known to be; how he presented himself especially in a setting so public, that he had so ungrudgingly let this incident slide without some kind of compensation.

Given that Cat had yet to contact her was telling enough, and now she wondered if she ever would. If that was a stipulation for Asher to drop his pursuit of her sister. Her mind went into a thousand directions, the last of which was to call and get delivery. Until she heard Alex from behind her. Kara swallowed hard then, painting a smile back on her face before she turned and held up her phone.

“I'm calling again! The line was busy the first time.”

**\-------**

It was four o'clock the next day and Kara still hadn't heard anything and being left to her own devices only worked so much. She had cleaned the apartment, searched for a few other jobs half-heartedly, she even broke into some of the new paints she had gotten for Christmas.

Until all she could resolve herself to sketch was Carter, or worse, Cat from memory. She tried a landscape, she tried Krypton, she tried a still life based on objects in her kitchen but her mind just refused to give its main subject up.

Kara had gone on a run then, trying to clear her mind with music and a change of scenery. Only to transverse half the city until she was on the edges of Cat's neighborhood; hardly breaking a sweat before she had turned back. Kara had made it back to her apartment faster than she had left it, partially fueled by the idea of Cat actually seeing her while driving around the city or something.

That had been less than an hour ago and still nothing from Alex.

She grabbed another bottle of water from the fridge, upending it as the door to a car shut forcibly from the street below. In a blink she was at the window, pushing it open just as Alex was shrugging out of her jacket.

“Took you long enough!” She called down, causing her sister to startle before looking up and waving with an exaggerated expression of glee.

“Up in a sec!” She called, pulling at her shirt from the hem of the skirt she had on, prying off the heels she had on as she trudged into the apartment building barefoot.

Kara could hear her like an elephant hammering up to her floor, excusing herself quietly from one of their neighbors before passing the apartment completely in order to help another with groceries.

“Next time just buzz our apartment Mrs. Berkleigh, it's never a trouble,” Alex called as she opened the door before slipping into the apartment to her waiting sister.

“Oh my god!” Alex huffed, tossing what she had already pried off herself towards the waiting laundry bin before adding to the collection with the rest of the suit she had on. Which really was Kara's though she had quite willingly given it to the younger woman in the hopes of presenting a more professional front.

“That much fun huh?”

“Remind me to get stationed in a children's hospital or something, the stuffiness of the adult side is just too much sometimes.”

“It was a far better alternative to your best jeans, tank top, and leather jacket.”

“That can look professional.”

“If you're a model for Calvin Klein, Alex.”

Alex made a face as she crossed the apartment to her room, throwing on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt.

“Soooo, how did it go?”

“You won't even believe me if I tell you.”

Kara sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned into the doorway while Alex plopped onto her bed with a bounce pulling her legs up under herself.

“Really, because that line is going to work with me?”

“Well no, but seriously Kara it, I can't even..”

“Just start from somewhere Alex, I've been going nuts here waiting.” Kara dipped into the room, sinking onto the edge of Alex's bed as her sister scooted back until she was against the headboard.

“Okay, so everything's weird and stiff and professional and of course Asher is there -and- Jesse and the two of them clearly are not as amicable as they were in the -least- from when I last saw them, right?”

Kara nodded and urged Alex to continue.

“Then Director Steven's greets us, lays out the plan and everything and how I'm first then Jesse and then of course Asshole right. So, we go in, I'm trying, TRYING to be good, I've got the words I want to say down just like you and I talked about and how I'm going to be sincere and all these things.”

Kara was up on the bed fully now, sitting cross-legged and letting Alex's story envelop her.

“And I look up as the director leads me in, everyone is there, they're already looking at me, right and-"

"Told you not to wear all those Alex."

"They wanted a dressed up, stuffy, zombie, professional. I wanted to show them not all professionals look so cookie cutter."

Kara sighed, glancing at all Alex's piercings with a smirk given her siblings truth to the words before urging her to continue.

"And she's there."

"Who?!"

"Fucking Cat! Right in the center, like a judge or something. She's ON. THE. BOARD. She's the damn vice chair apparently. Did you know they had board position votes last week? Yuh, so uhmm.. what.."

"Fucking Cat."

Alex blinked at Kara, eyeing her a minute before continuing. "Right, uh... yeah there she was, right in the middle looking at us from the table like some bad ass boss of a thing. I mean honestly, she belongs in a seat like that you can see it. But oh OH, Jesse was seething and Asher was between us and it was like a god damn soap opera Kara! I can't, you couldn't WRITE this stuff..."

“She didn't mention she was on the hospital board.”

“I KNOW!” Alex made a loud 'ha' before leaning forward. “So okay, okay, okay, I apologize right, I'm sincere I'm honest, I am brilliant at this moment. Then, Jesse, she gets up there and gets all emotional and badgering and a little vindictive but she still apologizes and notifies them she's transferring out of the program to another hospital.”

Kara tipped her head at that one, chewing on her bottom lip a bit as she watched Alex gesticulate and bounce with her recounting of the day's events.

“Then, THEN, Asher comes up and he's all humble pie and sickly sweet, still bruised but you can tell he's laying it on thick. Jesse's getting all huffy and Cat's just cool as ice. Just like the rest of the board right? When it's done, when it's all -done- we're outside in the hall, cause this is like high school right? So all the other interns in the program are there, Jesse was out and gone and a blur once it was over.”

“What about Asher?”

“Asshole? Oh, he leaves after Jesse, eyeballing me over the group but he doesn't stop to say anything and no one even acknowledged him after. But, so yeah, I'm there, talking to the other people in my thing and then the board comes out and we of course get all quiet and professional and shit. I'm in that suit and everyone else is in scrubs or plains. Board and Director go left like this haughty unit of privilege and administrators, except guess who?”

“No.”

Alex nodded emphatically. “Oh yes, she stays rooted in the spot, the board slipping away until she's the only one standing there, all bad ass and like she runs the damn hospital. I completely see what you do in her.”

“Alex!”

“Sorry okay so, everyone gets kind of hushy right, like, 'who's that' and 'what's she doing', before she turns and looks over. Everyone shuts right the hell up then. No joke. Like you could hear a pin drop in that place and then, THEN she comes over.”

“You're making this up Alex.”

“NO! No really! Cat comes -right- over and of course my friends and stuff part like the red sea and she just puts her hand on my shoulder, tells me I have a fantastic right hook then walks off following the board after giving a once around to the group. In front of EV-ERY-ONE.”

**\-------**

“You're sure you can wait?” Cat cautioned one final time, sitting in the glass cage of her office while the chaos of the Tribune whirled about outside it. Deadlines were due and final print had already been ordered. To say it was a madhouse was an understatement and Cat had never been more thankful for the triple pane soundproof glass in her life surrounding her than in that moment.

Carter nodded, his lips tucked inward with his determination to which she nodded back to him before turning to her work once again.

A corner set up just beyond Cat's desk under the window all for him. His pen walls were up and his toys were scattered here and there, save for the small desk that occupied the pen with him. Cat had ordered it the week before, intent on putting it in her office at home only to change her mind while dealing with her duties on the board at Pharos.

She knew then she wasn't going to be able to reach out to Kara, not with her sister involved and all she needed to take care of before, nor did she wish to hire anyone to take her position as Carter's nanny. It was an odd limbo to be in but she wasn't sure how to get them all out of it just yet, and as a result, had opted to bring Carter into work with her.

Thankfully, it wasn't an unusual occurrence considering how many nannies he had gone through prior which had forced Cat to bring him into work during the interim of looking for another. He was always well behaved and barely noticed those that came into her office. His attention was always on his toys or his mother, and with the older he was getting the latter of the two seemed to be what he wanted the most attention from.

Today was a prime example. She had barely gotten any of her own work done, although the board meeting at Pharos' hadn't exactly aided her in that endeavor either. By mid-afternoon, she was already behind, and now Carter was her sole focus.

He had settled behind his little desk without prompt when she settled into hers, finally seeming to get into the flow of all that was in front of her.  She couldn't help but notice him scribble away on his little notepad whenever she went over an article or layout. When she got a drink he asked for water and when she snagged a few m&m's he requested, actually requested, his cheerios.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so they tout, and Cat was hardly immune to the little man doing the imitating at present.

Their present end of conversation had come up by her absently asking what he was working on so hard not moments prior. To which he showed her his scribbles as if they explained the meaning of life before answering her.

“Whiteing propsal for constirations.”

Cat had arched a brow at him, a line forming between her eyes as she considered his words before plucking her glasses off and turning to him in her seat.

“A proposal?”

“Yes.”

“For consideration?”

He shook his head then. “Constirations. Lights at night.” He pointed out the window then, as she tipped forward to follow his point with her gaze. “Up there Mommy.”

“Stars?”

Carter grinned then, clapping his hands together as if she had achieved some grand milestone before nodding.

“Constellations.”

“Yes.”

“You're writing a proposal to the constellations?”

“Lizasaurus told me 'bout them at rissmas.”

“You mean Eliza?”

He nodded to her, going back to his 'proposal' with gusto. “She's a biontist.”

“Biologist.”

“Yes. She knows all the constirations.”

“Does she.”

“Yup, told me bout'm. So I'm whiteing a-”

“Proposal..”

“Yes, propsall for-”

“Constellations.”

“Yes. Inside.”

Cat licked her lips, her smile edging across her mouth unbidden as she studied him. “Who is this proposal for Mr. Grant.”

Carter actually giggled at the title and her tone, scribbling more nonsense mingled with actual letters and numbers. “Lizasaurus and Mama and you Mommy.”

Confusion brushed across Cat's features, twisting her insides though she tried not to let it come out in her tone when she spoke again.

“How come so many?”

“Lizasaurus knows the constirations. Mama's can find them, Mommy's gotta give premissons.”

“Eliza knows where they go so they're in the right places.” He nodded. “-Kara- knows where to find them.” He nodded again. “And I have to give you and them permission to let them inside your room?”

Carter nodded one final time with absolution, scribbling what she assumed was his name since it was at the very bottom and very thought out before he pulled it out of his notebook and stood up, presenting it to her like he had seen her actual employees do when they presented her with an article or layout for her to approve. Down to his hands going behind his back as he waited.

“Well.” She said matter of factually, putting her glasses back on as she stood, taking his 'proposal' into consideration as she paced about slowly. Proceeding as if she were reading over what she could sort of make out as an occasional word and numbers. She ticked points off on her fingers as she turned, glancing at him for a half second while Carter continued to watch her with the utmost attention.

“When exactly are you wanting this completed, Mr. Grant?” Cat looked over the edge of the paper at him as he scrunched up his face in thought.

“Morrow?”

“Mmm. That's going to be extremely difficult, if not next to impossible.”

He made a small pout of a face at that before she lowered the paper and took off her glasses.

“Not enough time. I have to contact Eliza, she doesn't live here, and I'm not sure she can come to town for this. It's a -long- trip. But, she might be able to give us a map to follow.”

Carter's expression shifted instantly as he nodded.

“That'll take time for her and for me to set up.”

“Okay.”

Getting a constellation map wasn't difficult, even if she didn't get it from Eliza but she had an odd suspicion Carter would know. If she didn't have the exact star chart configuration Eliza and her family had shown him over Christmas, he would know. Of course, contacting her seemed far easier a task than the next part.

“Then there's Kara.” Carter nodded, making little fidgets of movement, tugging on his shirt before smoothing it out again as she continued. “I have no doubt Kara can get you the stars.” Cat's voice hung in her throat a moment. It was sudden and striking and stole her voice when her words actually settled somewhere in her own chest.

Carter continued to look at her expectantly while Cat swallowed hard, unsure where that heavy spike in emotion had come from and why it was so poignant. Maybe it was the conviction of her son, that Kara could and would without question be able to provide him with stars. Or maybe, just maybe, the little voice inside her mind chided her, it was that she wanted Kara to provide her with the stars.

Cat cleared her throat quietly, stepping over for a drink of water as Carter's expression shifted again from elation to concern, watching his mother seem to become unsettled. Which only tended to happen with Asher when something bad or painful happened. Already his bottom lip was pushed out, the corners of his mouth turned down as he stepped closer, his little hand resting on her thigh.

“Mommy 'm sorry.”

“Oh no, Baby no.” Cat set her glasses down beside his proposal on her desk, scooping him up and into her arms effortlessly. Wrapping him up as he braced himself on her shoulders where she held them at eye level with one another. “You don't need to apologize, you've done nothing wrong.”

“You got quiet.” He said softly, searching her eyes as all children have a tendency to do, easily seeing beyond walls and barriers and directly to the heart of a person. Cat again was not immune to this ability of his, rare as it was for him to actually look at a person so directly. She had only ever seen him do it with Kara and Adam and again she felt her insides stirring uncomfortably.

“There are so many things happening with Kara right now Baby.”

“Was you means again?”

Cat shook her head, watching him carefully as he continued to search her out.

“Mommy hasn't said sorry. She isn't even sure she can anymore.”

“Can always say sorry.” Carter flexed his little hands then, turning his mouth a bit before putting them on either side of her face.

“I said that didn't I.” He nodded to her statement and she hugged him a little tighter, never turning her gaze from his. “Kara has so very, very much going on right now, that Asher could get really angry with her for.”

Cat's heart broke just a little when she saw anger cross his little brow and felt his fingers dig into her hair just a bit.

“Mommy's going to try to fix it okay.” Her words were absolute and he pulled in a big breath as if feeling the weight of them in his tiny body. “That's Mommy's boy.”

He blinked a few times before leaning forward until their foreheads were touching, eyes becoming one with their nearness even though neither looked away from one another.

“Mommy approves your proposal, it's just going to take longer than one day to get for you, okay baby?”

Carter nodded against her head. “You smart Mommy, fix things real good. Gotsa do it right.”

Cat let out an amused breath through her nose, her smile melancholic but she nodded just the same. “That's right. One has to do these things right. You okay with that? It could take some time.”

He nodded again. “Yup. We gots time, lotsa time.”

“Okay. Big hug?”

He grinned and ducked his head, arms finding their way around her throat as he hugged the breath out of her and she let him, hugging his little frame just as tight.

“Mommy?”

“Yes baby?” His voice was a whisper and laced with confusion and a sudden edge of shyness that she felt filter through his entire body. “What's wrong?”

“People..”

She frowned slightly, realizing her back was to the whole of her office and turned while Carter twisted slightly and tucked down into her a bit more. More than half the bullpen was looking at them, clearly having forgotten themselves even as she looked at them now.

A few immediately got the hint and shrank behind their cubicles while others disappeared out of her eye line completely. A straggler or two lingered until she cut her eyes to them, causing at least one individual to nearly flip himself over a cubicle in his attempt to get away. The last individual that lingered was Snapper, half tucked behind a support column as he continued to observe her and Carter. The corner of his mouth lifted in some kind of solidarity before he gave a short nod and then barked orders across the room, further pulling anyone's attention from her.

In that moment she whispered something to Carter, pointing out the man yelling, causing her son to giggle as he nodded before asking to be put down so he could get what she asked for. As she adjusted the line of her shirt she caught Snapper's eye again, giving him a veiled thank you before he slipped out of her eye line.

 


	13. The Week After That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After another week without resolution Kara is offered another job. Another visitor from Metropolis threatens National City and Alex gets an unexpected visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The third week of Jan.

It was another week before the door to her apartment was knocked upon. Kara was up in an instant, padding across the floor and upon opening it felt her heart seize in her throat.

“Kara.” Austin’s voice was gentle and the affection behind it genuine, as was his smile.

For a moment she thought Cat might be behind him but when she realized he was alone she felt her heart twist more, throttling her voice until he seemed to sense her distress.

“Not even a phone call?”

Kara’s expression told him everything he needed to know and he let out a small sigh giving a shake of his head. “Is it alright if I come in a moment?”

The question yanked Kara out of her stupor and she threw herself out of the way. “Gosh sorry, yes come in I was just-”

“Waiting diligently.” He allowed, stepping across the threshold and taking in the life of one Kara Danvers and how it was presented to him through her apartment. He noticed the little bits of second-hand furniture, decorated and refurbished by hand to look new, the nuances of her personality that clung to Kara wherever she went.

“Can I get you something to drink or-?”

“No, that’s alright. I was, well, to be honest, I was hoping to be called to pick you up but someone is being self-righteous.”

Kara frowned at him and started to say something but he held up a hand.

“Sorry, I came by to see, well to offer you a job.”

Kara felt her heart sink even further and a sick feeling huddle in the pit of her stomach, Austin out of anyone would know the state Cat was in, what her intentions for Carter or herself might be even if only minutely. The fact that he was offering her a job and not a ride back to her previous one spoke volumes loud enough to deafen her.

“Kara?” He tried again, the last of her name only now registering as she shook her head a bit and pushed a smile onto her countenance. “It’s, merely temporary.”

Kara nodded, swallowing visibly. “Right, so uhm. Am I driving or?”

Austin smiled gently, knowing already he was going to have to talk to Cat about this, but only -after- he spoke with Kara on the matter.

“No, I, well my wife Sara and I were wondering if you might be able to watch after Adelaide for us.”

Kara tipped her head then, studying him before she gestured he follow her further inside. She grabbed a bottle of water for herself from the fridge, setting another one down regardless of his declination for it.

“Are you going on vacation or something?”

“Vacation, that’s a dirty word.” He teased before adjusting his tie and then taking the bottle for something to do with his hands. “No, she, her boss is retiring and he’s offering her his position but the board of trustees wants to be sure of her capabilities.”

“If I never have to deal with a board of whatever again it’ll be too soon.” Austin looked confused for a moment before she waved him off. “So your wife has to prove herself?”

“When you put it that way.” He chuckled a bit. “Yes, but understandably, she is capable but it’s practically a lifelong position so it’s not unwarranted.”

“May I ask for what?”

“Chief Curator for National City’s Museum of Art.”

Kara nearly spit her water out at him. “What?”

Austin grinned, equally proud of his wife and amused at Kara’s outburst. “Problem?”

“Your wife, is the candidate for, she .. Ra..oh.. Uhm, wow.”

“I know.” He couldn’t have been more proud. “Which means a lot more hours and time away from home and where Adelaide can’t exactly be under the watch of the museum. Though they did offer interactivity courses she could participate in on Tuesdays and Thursdays to help out but that still leaves the rest of the week and my schedule is at the whim of my boss.”

“I would love to Austin.” Kara was a grinning idiot, all proud and excited about her friend and his family. “Would, do you need me to take care of her at home or here or?”

“Home is probably the easiest, we live close to downtown for both our jobs and Adelaide’s school so.”

“When do you need me?”

Austin made a slight face then, causing Kara to raise a brow at him as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Tonight possibly? I understand if you can’t, honestly. Sara wanted you to start tomorrow but I was going to try and surprise her tonight with dinner and-”

“You need someone to watch your daughter.”

“Like I said I know it’s so short-”

“When?”

The smile on his face could have filled the sun. “Around seven? I’ll come get you each day and bring you back like before, and I know it won’t match-”

“Stop. I’ll do it. You don’t have to pay me you’re already providing the transportation, I’ll be ready at seven and look forward to getting to know Adelaide.”

“Oh we’re going to pay you, don’t you dare think you’re getting out of this scot-free. Especially with-”

“I’m home!” Alex shouted, interrupting the pair and causing Austin to turn to greet her.

“So you are.”  
“I thought you had mid-shift?”

“Indeed.” Alex looked Austin for a minute. “Sorry I didn’t-”

“It’s fine, I was heading out.” Austin turned back to Kara then. “Thank you again, I owe you.”

“Hardly. Go, make your plans, surprise your wife and all that, I’ll be ready when you come back by.”

Austin nodded and made his way to the door, stopping to offer Alex his hand which she didn’t hesitate to take. “Pleasure to meet you, I’ve heard you have a mean right.”

Alex looked at the two before relinquishing the man’s hand. “Kay, nice to meet you too uh-”

“Austin. We’ll see each other again I’m sure. Have a good evening.” Just like that he stepped into the hallway and made his way back down to the street as Alex closed the door behind him and turned on her sister.

“The hell..”

“Cat’s personal driver.”

“OH... “ She caught Kara’s expression then. “Oh,” and watched it shift between happy and something else in the spectrum of disappointed. It was amazing how Kara could exhibit two vastly different emotional states at once but Alex pushed further inside. “So you have a new job?”

Kara nodded, finishing off her water before tossing one to Alex as she grabbed a second for herself from the fridge.

“That’s, better than nothing?” Alex wasn’t sure if she should be happy or angry, given Kara’s shift in demeanor she opted for the second but kept it to herself.

“So they switched your schedule again?”

Alex hmm’d and nodded, leaning into the island between her and Kara. “Now it’s every -second- week of the month it’s overnights so days, weekend split for me, nights, split again, then mid-shift.”

“They do know you have classes on top of your actual internship right?”

“Yeah but the University is letting me do selective session so, as long as I check in with my professors and show them my logs of hospital time they’re handling it.”

Kara nodded somewhat impressed, thankful for the ease of it all. Of course, she partially suspected any University or hospital might allow Alex to get away with murder just to claim they were the ones to cultivate one of the youngest doctorates in the nation. Then again with how much Cat may have had to intervene just to get Alex on probation through the hospital maybe it was just a University willing to overlook things.

“So you’re home until?”

“Shift starts at three.”

“Fun.”

Alex nodded, taking a long swig of her water. “Crazy hours, if we’re going to work in those environments and not private practices we’ve got to be adaptable.”

“If anyone can do it.” Kara teased causing Alex to huff at her.

“I’d say something about seeing you try but you probably would.”

“Never know, though I think there’s enough Doctor Danvers in the family already, including you.”

“Uh huh. So we gonna eat or you gotta head out for things?”

“Nope I’m yours until close to seven, then I’d suggest you sleep while I’m out.”

“Food, then sleep.”

\-------

Within the bowels of the city, Lillian Luthor paced back and forth like some caged beast, her mind still running over the details of her newest standing orders coupled with the failure of the third subject out of four in her current project.

Terminated was stamped in bold, capitalized, angry red across all documentation on her desk, half of her personnel had been recalled as well as a larger portion of her equipment. She had convinced them to wait on the pod and the woman inside it, as well as her final subject and just enough to allow her the final subject trial for her super soldier project.

Although she had been warned it was with great leniency that the powers that be were even considering her request. Had she not provided them with some other insightful, although perhaps archaic, methods of handling the few alien life forms she had been tasked with, they wouldn’t have granted her even that much. As it was, failure with this extension was not an option. That had been made abundantly clear.

A few correspondents had followed with her orders, a couple high ranking military officials still believed in her cause, as well as a senator or two. All who wanted to ensure her vision of a stronger human variant, especially with the threat of otherworldly influences, that had been kept under wraps for the most part, still lingering.

However, it wasn’t enough to save her project, nor was it enough to ensure if she went rogue she would have enough capital and influential backers to maintain it in the private sectors. She shifted her jaw in thought, her heels scratching the floor of her office as she turned back to her desk, looking at the stamped documents in front of her. Scattering them to the air with an angry growl of a sound and a sweep of her arm.

She heard the door open and felt her blood churn hot within her veins, eyes cutting over her shoulder to the intruder before the anger drained from her.

“Mother.”

“Lex.” She pushed her hair back into place, the wild danger in her eyes seeping back into the beast deep within her. “What’re you doing here?”

He toed one of the papers that had fluttered to the ground, flicking it towards her. “You’re not the only one who can get information out of things you know.”

Lillian let out a dark sigh, tipping her head at him as she turned fully, arms coming to cross over her chest as she watched him slither about her office. Her pride pulled at her chest at the sight, whispering across the corner of her mouth as she watched his mind work.

“You’re supposed to be in Metropolis, managing the empire your father left you.”

“Yes well,” He slid his hands into his pockets then, stepping around her orders on his way to her. “It appears as if you could use some of that managing influence.”

“No. We agreed you would not, outside of being my brilliant son, get tangled up in Project Cadmus unless it was lucrative.”

He nodded, stepping into her space before lifting his features to hers directly.

“Even if this one fails, I still think it could be lucrative. Privatized, specialized. These things are a real threat mother. They’re parasites, whether refugee or conqueror, their goal is the same. Drain. Our. Resources.”

“Never thought you to be one for environmental causes, Lex.”

He smiled at her then, like some kind of human-shark, checking the nails on one hand before tucking it back into his pocket.

“Humanity is a fantastic environmental cause. Mankind, without it, on top, ruling over the world, there is no environment. What better cause than to ensure mankind remains in that seat, to pursue an image within that which we were all made.”

Lillian raised a brow at him, urging him to finish.

“These things believe themselves to be gods, how could they not with some of the abilities you’ve shown me some of them possess. What transmutations they provide even the most common, lowly individual before their bodies give out. There is no greater ideal to strive for than godliness, with humility and grace of course but still. I like you agree we have to protect ourselves from these parasites, to make ourselves just as strong if not stronger than them, to protect those resources they seek to ravage.”

“There’s not enough of them to warrant getting your corporation sullied in the politics of our government, and others right now-”

“There IS enough. The actuality of their existence, right here, right now.” He strode away from her then, thumping at the glass of her office and the pod behind it. “They’re here, Mother! And if the government will not see, if the people in power refuse to believe its threat, to act, even preemptively, then I will.”

He huffed out a breath then, eyeing the woman in the pod before turning back to his mother and rounding her desk only to sit beside her, shoulders touching.

“I can give you everything you need, and more, LexCorp is primed for this. I’ve got scientists, labs, finances, investors. We could be the leading, patented, trademarked, -exclusive- provider for the very elements of our world’s survival. Anti-alien technologies, weapons, vaccinations, pharmaceutical and medical enhancements. From the ground up, even the governments of the world will be clamoring at our heels to get a piece of all these things.”

He glanced over his shoulder again to the woman in the pod then back to his mother. “So a few of them die in the process, a few of us as well, we’ll call it even. But we’ll be prepared, for whatever comes, be it invasion or mission of peace. It won’t be something that they’ll be able to take from us as easily as it is for me to crush an ant. Let me do this mother, give me her pod, and her. Say it got destroyed with the last trial subject as a precaution. Anything, just don’t give it back to them.”

Lex reached between them, pulling her hand into his giving it a gentle squeeze before actually kissing the back of her knuckles. “Let this be your legacy, that I can help carry out into the world. Not hidden away by old men too lost in their regulations and self-service to see the real potential.”

Lillian flexed her hand around his, glancing at the pod in question, knowing she’d have to sacrifice the few soldiers and scientists still afforded her unless they ended up under the employ of LexCorp.

“Alright baby.” She soothed, watching his eyes gleam as she looked back to him. “Have a transport ready by next week.”

Lex grinned at her, pushing up from her desk. “Just make it look good. I’ll handle the rest. You won’t regret this mother I promise.”

Lillian waited until Lex was far out of earshot before commenting about how he had better keep that promise before moving about her office again. She ignored the paperwork all scattered about and instead started looking for anything Lex might’ve left behind. It took nearly an hour before she found it, stabbed into the side of her chair and pushed into the cushion almost far enough not to be felt. She couldn’t help but feel proud again, easing the thing out of her chair and turning it about before it seemed to spark and fizzle. Burning itself into a useless, warped pile of metal and circuitry.

“Such a good boy.”

\-------

Alex startled awake to the sound of someone unceremoniously knocking on her door. She glanced at the clock frowning further as she pushed out of bed and grabbed a baseball bat along the way. If it had been Kara she would have just used the window like the last time she locked herself out. Not only that but her sister had sent her a text not an hour ago about how smart Austin’s kid was and how Alex should really meet her too.

“Kara, open the door.”

Alex nearly stopped dead at the voice on the other side, looking heavenward and almost asking if this was some kind of joke before she practically stomped over and flung the door open without warning. She watched almost gleefully as Cat jumped back enough to nearly smack into the opposite wall, adjusting her grip on the bat while Cat eyed her cautiously.

“You’re supposed to be at the hospital.”

“And you’re supposed to be on the upper east side, Kitty Kitty.”

Cat threw Alex a glare that rivaled her own mother’s with that nickname, but Alex merely cocked a hip to one side.

“Is Kara-”

“Nope.” And just like that Alex shut the door.

The downside to her plan was a failure to lock the door itself as she turned to make her way back to bed.

“Alexandra Heth-”

“Watch it now!” Alex said, pointing the heavier end of the wooden bat at the other woman. “My mother gets to middle name me for obvious reason, I’m gonna assume Kara told you mine cause otherwise that just gets weird, like really weird.”

“Alex-”

“That’s what you get to call me, short, sweet and to the point. Now that that’s established, can I shut my door now and get back to bed or?”

“Alex!” Cat’s voice shut the younger woman up almost instantly. Somewhere she recalled learning about how some animals had this ability, no matter their size, to bark or cry or make some kind of noise that halted anything in its path. Tigers were one, she thought maybe dachshunds were another but it all failed her in that moment as she found herself startled still and silent.

“Why aren’t you at the hospital.” Cat closed the door behind herself, not wishing to wake up the neighbors any more than she may already have. “You’re on probation.”

“Yes.” Alex cleared her throat, spinning the bat around and poising it like a cane to appear as if Cat hadn’t completely thrown her for a loop just then. “Yes, I am. They changed my schedule if you must know, so I’m on the late shift this week. Which is going to be a ridiculous pain in the ass, kind of like you right now, if I don’t get enough sleep.”

Cat shifted her jaw, eyeing the younger Danvers up and down a bit before giving a nod.

“Kara’s at work.” Alex offered, watching her words sink into Cat like teeth into a piece of raw meat. “She hadn’t heard from you, even after finding out you were on the board.”

Cat cut her eyes to the younger woman with her implication but stayed silent just the same.

Alex nodded, as a result, letting out another rueful exhale veiled in amusement with a slight shake of her head. “Really. Nothing. I had thought a little more of you but now, I dunno. I mean you can’t have been surprised, Kitty Kitty.”

“My name is Cat or Ms. Grant to you.”

“Right, yeah, no. Right now, it’s get out. Don’t misunderstand, I’m stupid grateful for what you did, but not how you did it, and certainly not how this has all made Kara feel. Or me for that matter. I mean I know I’m responsible for myself and all and so is Kara but we let you in, we let Carter in and… she can’t keep doing this.”

Cat swallowed visibly then, seeming almost crestfallen as she studied Alex; half terrified if she actually wanted the answer to the question poised on the tip of her tongue.

“What?”

“Being... this, righteous, caring, invested, silent… I don’t even know, idiot maybe? But it’s too much.” Alex watched Cat seem to stiffen and the minute ounce of vulnerability she caught slipped behind a veil of steel.

“Listen, honestly, Cat, Ms. Grant.” She picked up the bat, hooking it over her shoulder as she stepped closer.

“If things aren’t going to change, if you’re going to keep pretending at whatever it is you’re pretending at. Everyone is better off if you just keep doing it without some of the rest of us in it.”

Cat tipped her head back slightly, unsure how to answer that exactly but the truth of Alex’s words rung inside her like an angelus bell.

“Just... I’m sure there’s a more eloquent way to put all that but it wouldn’t be as poignant.”

“I would have said potent.”

Alex let out a breath then, knowing this wasn’t her place or her fight. It was Kara’s, but she wasn’t just going to sit idly by any longer.

“I like you, which says a lot, and I really like your son. But I hate your husband and the things he makes or seems to make everyone do, including me. It wasn’t my place, I know this but the way he spoke about his son and what he was doing.. I nearly lost everything I’ve worked for, my parents worked for and Kara has certainly sacrificed far too much for.”

“It makes you rather chivalrous.” Cat tried but Alex shook her head.

“It makes me an idiot, Kara is the chivalrous, moral one. Carter isn’t just a job, he’s a person, he’s her person as long as she’s his nanny. But for Kara, so are you.”

Cat’s eyes cut to her sharply and it almost seemed as if she had stopped breathing while Alex plowed onward.

“Seriously if this is all just some fucked up game the people at your level play, you can leave her out of it. And Carter too, he deserves far better. But y’know, “ she edged closer to the woman. “I don’t think you’re one of those people -Cat-, but I sure as hell can’t figure out why you’d let yourself be.”

The pair of women looked at one another for a sizable amount of time before Cat seemed to nod and Alex returned the motion.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to try and salvage my night so I can go to work later. Kara is supposed to be back sometime after midnight if you’d like to wait or whatever.”

Cat shook her head minutely, completely disconnected from the moment all of a sudden. “Get some sleep, Alexan...Alex. I’m sorry I woke you.”

Alex watched the woman slip out of her apartment as if she had never been there. Letting out a sigh to herself as she locked the door this time, leaning forward until her head was pressed against it. Already she was arguing if she should have said anything or nothing, and at the same time debating whether to tell Kara or not.

She let out a groan of frustration before leaving the bat by the door, turning on her heel and making her way back to bed, she’d think about it later when she was supposed to be awake.


	14. And the Weeks After That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A month has gone and Kara only sees Cat in the headlines until someone close to Kara is threatened, forcing her to reconsider the choices she made years ago

The following week came and went, almost. It was Friday by the time Cat finally couldn't stand it any longer and told Austin to pull the car over, thankful Carter was currently at the office under Snapper's watchful eye.

“Ma'am?”

“Pull. Over and -stop-. Now.”

He nodded, looking up at her through the rearview mirror as he parked the car in a legal space but didn't turn off the engine just yet.

“Something wrong Ms. Grant?”

“Should I be giving you a raise?”

Austin frowned and looked back up at her. “Ma'am?”

“Should I, be giving you, a raise.”

“I don't understa-”

“Your new hire.”

Austin shifted his jaw, turning the key in the ignition to shut the engine down before twisting in his seat and looking at the woman in the back directly.

“Are we going to do this?” He asked genuinely, watching the woman carefully.

“What?”

Austin flexed his jaw before turning back around and pushing open the door, shutting it behind him vigorously only to yank hers open.

“Move over Catherine.”

“What are you doing?!”

“Am I on the clock?”

Cat chewed on the inside of her bottom lip and narrowed her eyes at him. “No.”

“Then move over.”

Cat set her jaw before setting her hands into the leather and lifting enough to move aside and allow him to sit.

“Thank you.” He stated before shutting the pair of them inside, turning to her more fully. “Want to try that again with some civility instead of accusation?”

“Is Sara-”

“She’s fine. Busy, but fine.” Austin saw Cat drawing another breath to speak and kept going. “So am I, so is Adelaide. I promise.”

“Were you going to tell me?”

“Were you going to call her?”

Cat folded her arms across her chest, fingers curled around a bicep fiercely, gaze leveled on the back of the passenger seat as if she could burn a hole in it. Given the intensity of it and the work of her jaw, Austin knew if anyone could do it she could.

Austin drew in a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh of a sound through his nose as he laid an arm on the shoulder of the seat he usually occupied.

“It’s temporary Cat.” He finally stated, unsure if he could just let her sit and seethe with herself for too much longer. “Sara has a thing for work and I have you, you being ridiculous and stubborn is your own fault and Kara doing the same is hers.”

“How would you know.”

“Because I know you, and I’ve come to know her enough, though not as well. It’s no wonder you’re a perfect fit.”

Cat’s head turned to him so fast he thought her neck might break.

“Meaning?”

Austin studied her carefully for a second if that before speaking again.

“You’re stubborn, and believe yourself to be undeserving of any ounce of happiness you seem to want to perpetuate for others on a constant basis. You think no one pays attention, that you’re under the radar enough but you’re not. Not to those of us who are good at pretending to be nothing but objects for the hierarchy of society.”

“You are not nothing.”

“And you’re not listening Cat. Least of all to yourself.”

Cat eyed him cautiously, his convictions were set and he seemed riddled with confidence rarely afforded her. Not while he was working, when he was ‘on the clock’ as he stated, he was just as he said, good at pretending to be nothing but an extension of her car.

She flexed and shifted her jaw at him a moment before blinking the intensity of her stare away, turning it to the back of the headrest of his usual seat.

“How long?”

“Until?”

Cat turned her gaze back to him in a manner that informed the man not to play games with her right now.

“End of the month, perhaps the weekend after.”

“Consider her on loan.”

“Cat.” He warned and she finally turned to him.

“No. I never terminated her contract, she never put in a notice, I just told her to go home and wait-”

“She has a family Cat, she’s responsible for so much-”

“Nor did I stop paying her.”

“She’s not going to accept it. She barely allowed Sara and me-”

“Which is why she’s on loan, to other individuals under my employ while I straighten out some things.”

Austin rose a brow at her then, to which she drew in a deeper breath letting it out in a huff of a sigh. The two of them sat there with one another and the unspoken weight of whatever endeavor Cat was going to take up now.

“Back on then?”

Cat allowed a ghost of a smile to grace her features before Austin nodded.

“Glad the back seat is as comfortable as I thought, Ms. Grant.”

Her smile widened just enough to satisfy him before he opened the door and slipped out of the car, closing it behind him gently before resuming his usual place.

“Apologies for the delay, we’ll be back at the office in record time.”

“Actually, we’re not going back to the Tribune, you’re going to take me there.”

He followed her gaze looking over an area of National City she’d been pining after for as long as he had been employed.

“Shall I call in lunch or?”

“For yourself yes. I’m not leaving until it’s done.”

Austin couldn’t help the smile that pulled at the corner of his mouth before he started the car and put it into drive. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t-”

“Won’t happen again, Ms. Grant.”

**\-------**

By the following week, Kara had seemed to settle into her new routine, even if parts of it made her nostalgic for working with Cat. For. She reminded herself, for Cat. Every morning Austin was there, like before, even if it was an hour later than her usual time prior.

Kara had noticed minute changes in the city's landscape over the course of the week but still wasn’t sure how to take them. Despite her current job, she still hadn’t heard anything from Cat and a part of her wondered if it was due to those very changes Kara had noticed. The building Cat had pined and longed after, higher than any in National City, had gone from for lease to sold.

Kara assumed if it had indeed been Cat she would’ve seen some mention of acquisition in the Tribune or at the very least the tabloids. Instead, she had actually purchased the latest issue of The National City Caller. The image of Asher, plain as day with a woman who certainly was not his wife was inset with a picture of Cat alone and looking like some kind of lioness emerging from a cage with the Tribune behind her.

“ **National City’s New Media Queen Separates** ” had been the headline, while “ **...and we couldn’t be more excited.** ” had been the deck.

The pang of nostalgia rooted itself deeper into her chest as she was dropped off at her building and she had vacated the car while the last whispers of Cat’s perfume clung to her even as she trudged up the final set of stairs and into her apartment. Unlocking the door she remembered Alex was at the hospital thanks to her switch in shifts and realized she should have asked Austin to stop so she could grab herself some dinner before now.

With a small sigh, Kara set her things down, knowing she wasn’t about to head back down and ask for more time from the man knowing he had to head back to the Tribune and get Cat. Moving across her apartment, she already had her phone in her hand ready to order another round of take-out as she made her way to the window in order to complete the last of her workday ritual.

Kara gave a small wave from the fourth-floor window down to Austin, who insisted on remaining outside the car until she was doing exactly what she was doing now. Once that was settled he would get back into the car a drive off. He'd done it a hundred times before without incident, even gotten comfortable with some of the shops and corner stores in her neighborhood to feel comfortable enough stopping on occasion.

Like now, the car was locked and parked accordingly, he was inside getting a drink, eyeing the little tchotchke's in plastic cases around the checkout counter window, tapping on the plexiglass at some dark green yarn doll with a blue bow and a matching dress before it was added to his total.

He knew well enough not to drink in the car, not that it was exactly forbidden but it wasn't his vehicle.  Given the fact it wasn't coffee, which his boss accepted him indulging inside the car more than anything else, he remained outside the car content to enjoy the moment.

Kara continued to mill about in her apartment, her mind was idle, eyes running over the mail in her hands as she scanned through each envelope with ease only to have her attention pulled towards the windows.

“I don't want any trouble.”

The sound of the gun hammer, as clear as if it were right beside her own head, bounced through Kara's body like the bullet it was threatening Austin with. The mail scattered to the floor and without thinking she was at her window and leaping out of it.

She hit the ground hard, leaving an impact on the asphalt and thankful she had pushed off enough to land between the buildings across the street and not the middle of the road.

“My wallet is in my front pocket.”

She twisted at the sound, trying to pinpoint it, x-ray vision engaging, shoes scraping across the pavement as she turned and ran, weaving between buildings and trying to stay out of sight even if all that most anyone would see was a blur or just feel the wind of her passing. Given the evening hour, she was lucky darkness had already settled over most of the city.

She heard the sound of a body hitting a car, the break of bone and the jostle of a gun handle from the impact and pushed herself harder.

“Where're the keys?”

“Not... mine.”

Kara heard Austin struggle with the words, almost feeling his pain as she cut through another alley coming out on the sidewalk a block away from him and the men surrounding him.

“No, it's mine. Now, where are the keys.” Austin caught the man's leg when it tried to impact his foot, pitching him off balance and into the group as Austin reached for the car to stand up.

“Hey!” Kara's voice was lost to the fumble of the group, the underlings urging the leader to pay the brave man back for his disrespect.

“Not. Yours either.” Austin caught Kara out of the corner of his eye, not wanting to acknowledge her for fear she would become a target. Instead, he spat blood onto the pavement wiping his mouth, ready for the fight, or the bullet he knew was coming.

Either way, he wasn't going to take it on the ground like some kind of wounded animal.

“Gonna pay for that brave man.”

Kara was there in less than a second, standing between Austin and the gun that fired. She wrapped herself up in the impact, bowing over all the while looking at the group before her eyes burned red then white like some kind of demon. Sending the group into a panicked rush to get away just as sirens started to sound in the distance.

“Kara!” Austin's hands were around her waist and they both went to the ground, her heat vision fading as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to crumple to the pavement.

“Someone!” He shouted only to have her wave him off.

“I'm okay.”

“You're not you were-”

“Austin!” Kara pulled his attention back, the bruise on his face was turning purple and the split in his lip was causing it to swell. She held his gaze for a long moment before looking down at herself, holding the bullet in her palm between them just over her abdomen where it should have hit her. Where it should have nearly killed her. Where it should have left her bleeding out on the street in his arms.

Not right as rain and trying to get the man to calm down.

“How..”

“Yes officer, they went North, yes they mugged some man and shot a girl.” The shopkeeper had come out as soon as the first set of officers arrived, relaying what had happened and pointing to where everyone had run off to.

Austin grabbed the bullet from her hand, pulling them both to a stand roughly before his adrenaline started to ebb and he had to brace himself on the car.

“I just fainted.” Kara amended hoping the officers heard her, helping to hold Austin up easily while making it seem like she was trying to catch her breath.

“I'm okay, they missed or something. He needs help.” Kara nodded towards Austin, the pair of them sharing another look as another patrol car pulled up only to take off down the street and around the alley at a high rate of speed with a simple hand gesture of the officers on scene.

“EMS'll be here any minute, just sit tight okay?” The younger officer was quick to help Austin try and stay up and awake while Kara leaned into the man, wrapping him up in a hug that he allowed, again easily holding him upright.

“Got it.” He offered, using the car and Kara to stay standing. “One of us is going to have to call her,” Austin stated quietly, feeling Kara nod.

“She's going to be upset.” She replied into the shoulder of his ruined jacket

“I know.”

“Sir, unit seventeen just stated they've caught who they think is responsible.”

“Think?”

“They were tied to a light pole, sir.”

Kara and Austin shared another look, Kara giving a small shrug before the two officers were on their radios trying to get more information.

**\-------**

Kara sat alone in the private waiting room staring at the floor, hunched over with her fingertips pressed into her forehead as she contemplated the last few moments as they had blurred by. Thankfully when they had been admitted Alex was right there, along with half her program to see them.

That coupled with whom both she and Austin worked for served to get them much faster care and more secluded from the majority of the hospital itself. Alex dropped down beside her, the scrubs and the ponytail hardly serving to make her appear older than she always seemed to be in moments like this.

Kara felt the styrofoam of a cup pressed into her arm before she sat up and took the offered water with a small thank you.

“You’re sure nobody saw.”

Kara shrugged, taking a sip of the cool liquid before looking across the way at the wall.

“I know that group did.”

“Yeah, no kidding, we actually have two of them here because they swear they saw the devil or something.”

Kara actually half smirked only to have Alex shove at her shoulder. “Hey.”

“Hey, nothing. Do you have any idea-”

“Yes.”

“Really? Cause it seems like you just conveniently forgot back there.”

“Why do you think Mom and Dad let you come here with me.”

Alex looked struck for a moment before furrowing her brow and looking more pointedly at Kara.

“Because they knew, no matter what, despite everything they ever told me about my powers, everything else I -actually- learned about them... you’d be safe. That I would always be right there, and if I had to risk everything to make sure of that, they understood it.”

Alex swallowed visibly, studying her sister carefully as a heavier weight seemed to settle into her body.

“I always thought it would be you. Always. Like when we were kids, that I’d end up saving you.” Kara looked over at her sister then, eyes reddened and threatening to overflow. “I don’t know if, I can just let it go.”

“What Kara? Let what go?”

“What if I told you right now because you’re so smart and so good at what you do, you had to stop. You had to quit this program and go do something else in order to protect yourself because you’re so young and brilliant and no one will ever understand who’s older than you. That the people the same age as you will always wonder why or how because you’re better than them. Where they struggle you find it too easy, and where you excel they can’t even compete.”

Alex’s jaw flexed as the pair stared one another down.

“Remember when I went away?”

Alex nodded.

“It wasn’t just college, it was hardly college at all. I wasn’t gone for four years without talking to you, just because of school. I finished school in a year, Alex, if that.” Kara let out a soft exhale, turning to look down the hall where Austin was being evaluated.

“Testing out of courses runs in the family.” Kara swallowed visibly, dropping her gaze from the hall back to the cup in her hands. “I’ve given up, so much for Eliza, Jeremiah and especially you.”

“No one, none of us asked you to do that Kara. Never. Do you think we would ever ask you to not be whatever you are? I mean certainly, there’s stupid amounts of consequences to what I think you’re implying, one of which is terrifying if it means someone or thing comes and takes you away.” Alex dropped down so she was looking up at her sister then, forcing Kara to look at her.

“Kara I would never, ever expect to keep you from what your family or home or even you wanted for yourself. I know back then, I didn’t understand. You were leaving, wouldn’t tell me why, Mom and Dad argued so much with you, not to stop you, I don’t think, but to make you realize your life was, is your own.”

“I refused it,” Kara admitted, thumbing the cup and sniffling a bit before lifting red-rimmed eyes to her sister. “I learned, things, I wish I hadn’t, and more I’m glad I did from my father, my Uncle.” Kara shifted her jaw sharply at the thought, at the things she wished she could forget now, at the Legacy she had left behind that still called somewhere deep down inside her.

“Krypton is gone. It -was- my home, not anymore. You are, Eliza, Jeremiah, Uncle Jon, Aunt Martha, Ka...Clark, Cat.”

Alex blinked. “Cat?”

“Is here,” Kara added, pushing to a stand, quickly followed by her sister as the woman in question approached in a hurried fashion.

“Where is he?” Cat demanded, looking beyond Alex to Kara.

“Wh..oh. Yes. Aus..Mr. Lorcan is in with his family right now.”

“And you, what’s your name I don’t see-”

“Cat.” Kara interrupted, pulling the woman’s attention. Her sharp response dying in her throat when she saw the blood and torn clothes the other woman had on. Carter was clinging to her, silent as ever, which was unusual and looking at Kara expectantly.

“It’s Alex…” Kara watched Cat blink as if finally realizing who the ponytailed scrub wearing person was.

Instantly Cat heard Austin in her mind, and how well he and others around her had perfected the art of being nothing.

“She helped us get in here, kind of like your name did.”

Cat lifted her chin slightly, looking Alex over just as Carter picked up his head, reaching a hand, not for Kara but Alex. “Lexasaurus Rex. Rawr rawr rawr.”

Alex gave a tight smile to Cat then looked at Carter with a small nod. “Cartersaurus.” She allowed while Cat looked dumbstruck.

“How-where?”

“She’s apparently got some pull ever since the vice chair of the board complimented her,” Kara explained and Carter started to turn as Alex made to move away.

“Carter baby, Mommy-”

“Needs to talk with her employees about what happened.” Alex interrupted this time, easing Carter out of his mother’s arms and onto her hip with a slight bounce. “He looks tired, I’ll get him some juice and a blanket at the nurse's station ok?”

“Thanks, Alex.”

Cat looked between the two women and how easily her son took to the younger Danvers and wondered if it was a family trait to imprint so thoroughly upon people they encountered in such short amounts of time before turning her attention back to Kara.

“You couldn’t have gotten changed?”

Kara looked down at herself then and winced internally, dragging her hoodie closed around herself and zipping it up with a sharp whine of a sound.

“Are you, is he-”

“We’re okay.” She lied, Kara was far from okay. Austin knew. He knew she was something beyond normal. Everything had happened so fast it was easy to mislead any other witnesses but Austin, he knew. The bullet burning a hole in her pocket said as much.

“What. Happened?”

Kara let out a sigh, she hadn’t really gotten the opportunity to talk with Austin to get their stories straight. There should’ve been no reason for her to be with him unless they stopped first and intended on dropping her off later. Kara chewed at the inside of her bottom lip, hoping it would be seen as some kind of guilt instead of trying to figure out what she was going to say.

“He stopped to-”

The sound of bare feet hitting tile broke apart her sentence before some red-headed little girl slammed into Kara’s legs at full force and held onto her like her life depended on it.

“Adelaide!” Cat spoke at the same time as her own mother while Kara just reacted instinctively and plucked the girl effortlessly off the ground and up into her arms into some kind of bear hug. The young girl had all four limbs around her and her head buried in Kara’s neck, whispering just enough for Kara to hear as the woman wrapped Adelaide up just as fiercely.

“I’m so sorry she, it’s the situation and-”

Kara mouthed that it was okay and hugged the girl tighter, sending the words her way as well before cutting a look to Cat that she wasn’t going to be able to answer her questions right now.

“He said he should’ve dropped you off first but I don’t think, I can’t, I don’t know what might’ve happened then.” Sara supplied looking between Kara, her daughter, and Cat.

“So they stopped before?”

Sara nodded while Kara moved further away from the two women.

“I know you saved him” Adelaide whispered so only Kara could hear her, hugging the woman as tightly as possible, knowing Kara wouldn’t hurt her. Couldn’t possibly, not if everything her father said was true and how they had to protect Kara like she had him.

“We’ll save you too Supergirl, I promise.”

Kara tucked her head against the little girl’s, pushing tears back as she looked upward, trying to keep them at bay. She ignored the title the girl painted her with and just thanked Rao while cursing him at the same time.

“I should’ve been faster,” Kara whispered as Adelaide just tried to wrap her up tighter.

Cat kept watch of Kara, never having seen Adelaide take to someone who wasn’t her father or herself while trying to listen to Sara who kept pulling her attention. Alex was just coming back to the scene in question, Carter passed out against her body, wrapped up in small fleecy. She caught Kara’s expression, the way Austin’s daughter clung to her and every ounce of what Kara had been trying to relay to her earlier fell into place.


	15. The Unveiling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An deadly series of events force everyone to make choices on all sides for the future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I can say is [**M83's _Feaful Odds (Oblivion OST)_**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb9Asuh2g8E) was all I could listen to while writing this. 
> 
> This is a HEAVY action chapter and bounces all across the city...

“Do they suspect anything?”

The woman shook her head in response, eyeing the man in front of her, knowing what lay beneath the facade of his human skin. She crossed her arms over her chest lifting her chin to him.

“You could've been seen.”

“And she could have just stood there after the fact instead of preserving herself.” Diana narrowed her eyes slightly, while the man in black continued to pace about in front of her.

“I've always known there were other aliens around us, especially with the Fort Rozz incident. I, just, had been hoping for some of my own-”

“Never lose that hope.”

“I know that, but we were not anticipating her. The pod we've been tracking certainly-”

“It still matches the other two signals.” She argued

“Yes, and without knowing exactly who that fortress in the north belongs to, as dormant as it may appear, I still don't want to make any assumptions.”

“She's the only one who fits. Pod signatures were found from her town of origin and have only re-activated here in National City since.”

“But those signatures are nowhere within the vicinity of her apartment, where she works, even where her sister works.” He turned to face her momentarily. “It’s been a week Diana, and nothing, -nothing- else has happened to her.”

“I understand that.”

“And” The man continued despite the interruption. “That additional signature is too fleeting for us to pinpoint exactly. There hasn’t been another ping for almost a month now.”

“She stopped a bullet without incident and frightened her attackers enough to put two of them under psychiatric watch for seventy-two hours J’onn.”

The man let out a dark sigh, hands settling onto his hips as he came to a stop in front of her again, eyes looking past her to the fledgling facility that had finally taken precedence over the current anti-alien sentiment of Project Cadmus.

“That’s a lot of faith to put behind something so new, behind a what if. The President only allowed this-”

“Because he is a smart man willing to listen to an even smarter woman and understands our place in it alongside her and in essence him.  Not bowing down to the man like the previous establishments. We’ve been working on this a long time J’onn. This is going to work. If we do it right, treat it and them and Earth the way it should be. As something to embrace and move forward together on, not divide us with. Life is life, there is nothing inferior or superior just because yours originated on Mars, mine on Themyscira, and Marsden’s on Earth.”

The man nodded letting out another breath. “It would do this organization well to have someone to rally behind.”

Diana smirked raising a brow at him. “What’re we?”

J’onn chuckled gently. “Too old, and odd for public consumption.”

“Says you.”

“You’ve lived for nearly five thousand years and yet you’ve been here a hundred Diana. And walked away from humanity after a little over half your tenure here.”

“You were the one that convinced me to come back J’onn.”

“Yes well, I’ve been here for three hundred of their years. Besides, if you had truly turned your back on mankind, I wouldn’t have found you in the jungles of Vietnam like I had now would I.”

Diana let out a sigh of her own then, easily recalling running into the Martian in the jungle, on the run from the very basis of the organization she now stood within. She had indeed been helping refugees make it to a safe haven amidst another of mankind’s wars. What she hadn’t counted on was the bond she and J’onn had forged in that moment.

Of course, the death of the man, whose face he currently wore, at her hands to save J’onn, and essentially herself and any other alien refugee moving forward was a rather firm sticking point as well. With those choices made, it set the course for the journey they were both on and intended to be for as long as they could be allowed.

Although, Diana had a contingency plan. Just in case the need to separate their organization from the government who had given it a foothold arose. She just hoped mankind wouldn’t again prove her right and force her to utilize it.

This Kara Danvers was a key point to that. Or so she guessed, and her instincts were rarely that misguided. She understood J’onn’s need for caution, for absolute certainty. Especially what with other aliens they had encountered prior to this moment, both hostile, friendly and in-between. Not to mention the countless others who were refugees on this planet alongside them.

Project Cadmus and its Director, Lillian Luthor, had done nothing to assure her or J’onn, or any others of an otherworldly inclination they had hidden under their employ, that there would ever be a plausible, amicable outcome for human and alien-kind to coexist. Far from it, in the past few years, the project had shifted from a form of regulated cohabitation into full-fledged human dominance at the complete expense of all alien beings.

Cadmus had suddenly come with a price some members of the government were willing to overlook, despite the casualty of their own people. 'A few for the many' was a running mantra with those supporters. Finally, by whatever grace of gods, the pair of them had managed to gain the trust of the powers that be to attempt another solution.

The age-old idiom; if you can’t beat them join them.

Thankfully the President had seen that different light.  Though that was in larger part to his Secretary of State, Olivia Marsden. Whatever insightful instinct she had been willing to trust in had proved enough for the leader of the free world.  With his blessing and appointed oversight, Marsden had indeed halted further funding of Cadmus seeing the devastation it had proved in resource and finance. As well as in human and known, albeit limited, alien casualty in its pursuit of containment and control.

Her and J’onn’s personal exposures to the Secretary as to who, or more what, they really were had helped undoubtedly, but so had the statistics and project achievements they presented in contrast to Dr. Luthor’s own surrounding Cadmus. Forged documents, secret facilities, improper allocation of funds and other violations that might have continued to be overlooked were the project successful in any real capacity.

Instead, J’onn and Diana had managed to expose it for what it truly was. A sort of personal sandbox experiment for Dr. Luthor and possibly her extended family. Namely, her son Alexander, who with the full acquisition of ownership of his father’s empiric corporation, had done very little to assuage those fears.

In spite of all that, what they lacked now, was a sort of mascot, a spokesperson. Someone they as aliens and outcasts, as well as humans, could essentially rally behind. There had been candidates prior, although none of which that bespoke of powers or abilities even close to that of J’onn or Diana.

Which, if they were both honest with themselves, was a bit of an impossible task, and might be a subconscious one at that. Certainly out of the two of them Diana should have been more than capable to take up that figurehead position; were it not for the jaded nature of her being, wrought from her own origins. She had tried before, a hundred years before, and again nearly twenty years after that and somewhere in the midst of the second war to end all wars, she lost a hope for mankind that she knew she could never gain back.

Not like before anyhow. Not after the camps and the bombs and the disregard and devastation even she couldn’t prevent. Could never, nor would ever, understand.

It was not a small thing they were asking of anyone, but they needed someone, someone like Kara Danvers and her inherent roots from whatever alien planet she came from, as well as those forged and woven on Earth until one couldn’t untangle to two from each other.

She and J’onn could never fulfill that mantle, they were both far older than they appeared and had little connection to Earth in the way someone who had grown up here, as Kara had seemed to, could. They had lived their lives, forged themselves in the fires of their own worlds before ever tempering themselves with their lengthy tenure on Earth by comparison.

“Diana?”

The woman startled slightly, cutting her eyes back to J’onn who was far closer to her than a moment prior. She rose a brow at him then instead of replying verbally to his inquiry.

“Lost in thought?”

“History.”

J’onn nodded slowly, arms coming to cross over his chest as he leaned into the edge of his desk looking her over carefully.

“And I am not convinced we should wait for this girl, too many coincidences, and -”

“There are no such thing as coincidences yes, yes, so you’ve said before Amazon.”

Diana grinned at him then, letting the tension of her thoughts slip away from her for later.

“The Department of Extranormal Operations..” She shook her head slightly at that. “I will never understand your world’s need to compartmentalize so many things.”

“Yes well.”

J’onn was about to say something more when the scramble of agents outside his office pulled his attention, coupled with red flashes involving one of their operatives.

“What now.” He growled, causing Diana to spin as she felt her heart sink with what greeted her.

 

**\-------**

 

Hours before, beneath the surface of National City in the long-abandoned old sewer works tucked below the industrial district another gunshot rang out, the soldier at post dropping lifelessly to the ground in a heap.

Lillian stepped closer before crouching down, carving a small sigil into the side of his neck without remorse before rising back up and away and handing her gun to the man beside her.

“Have your men set the explosives, I want no one, and I mean no one left to explain what happened here.” She turned to the man, seeing the iridescent relay of his eyes flicker about like some kind of wild animal before he looked at her.

“Understood.” His voice was gruff and easily hidden behind some kind of voice modulator. Her son’s men just made her that much more proud, knowing how loyal and undoubtedly expendable they were. She would have to comment on that when she saw him next.

The echo of her heels was like death, counting down the seconds to execution as she relieved herself of the site, knowing the security system had been hijacked and effectively disabled. Leaving those beyond this point oblivious to what was about to occur.

Lex was topside, hands in the obnoxiously garish grizzly fur coat pockets of his, as he observed the lockdown of the alien pod into the transport vehicle. His mother’s footsteps pulled the corners of his mouth and eventually his full attention as he turned to her arrival.

“I promise, your project will live on unhindered. This is merely the first step.”

Lillian let her own smile reflect his, glancing at the transport vehicle before leveling her attention on her son completely.

“I just love how loyal and willing your men are, walking into their own deaths as if it were commonplace.” She fixed the line of his coat, tightening the fur around him before offering him a gentle pat over his heart.

“As excited as you are baby, we need to go, otherwise, our alibi’s will be that much harder to prove.”

Lex merely grinned, hooking his arm in hers and escorting her to his waiting limo.

“Yes, mother.”

Systematically the strike team belonging to LexCorp dug their way into the underground facility, half the team readying explosives and other devices while the four remaining agents set about their task of clearing the facility.

The team lead held up a fist before spreading his fingers wide, counting out how many were beyond the point of entry before signaling the execution of their order. The entire team entered the room as quickly and smoothly as possible, bullets and blood littering the floor as they eliminated the technicians and security forces within it.

With barely a pause they continued down the hall towards the main facility, squaring up under provided cover Lillian had set up the day before. The next area was far broader, and filled with a variety of personnel, both armed and not. The leader held up an injector, popping the top off the automatic plunger before the rest of his team mimicked his action.

“Infiltration in position, distraction team, you are a go.” Without hesitation he jabbed the thing into his neck, sending the serum within it into his bloodstream along with the rest of his team just as the first explosion hit sending the room beyond them into chaos.

“Clear it out.” He ordered as they rounded out from cover and opened fire on the room with their advance.

 

**\-------**

 

Kara had just put Adelaide to bed when she felt the explosion. It was muted, like a rumble of thunder off in the distance, before it was followed by the visual plume of fire and smoke on the horizon of the city.

“Kara?” The girl was there almost instantly, her expression fearful, but behind that fear, Kara saw something else, something bordering on determination and expectancy.

Kara was by her side in an instant just as the lights flickered and she heard another explosion rumble low beneath the city.

“Trust me?” The girl nodded emphatically before Kara snagged a blanket from the couch, wrapping Adelaide and herself up in it.

“Hold on tight and close your eyes alright?”

“Okay, Kara.”

With careful consideration she pulled the blanket up over Adelaide’s head, tucking the girl’s features down against her chest. Like before in her own apartment Kara was out a window before she could stop herself, rushing across rooftops, destination set. She crossed higher and higher until she ran out of rooftop, clinging to Adelaide while the girl held on as tight as she could before Kara lept up and into the air.

There was a feeling of weightlessness and the girl made a whimper with the feeling before Kara grappled deep down, praying to Rao before the pair of them shot heavenward. With a renewed determination Kara tightened her hold, murmuring reassuring sentiments to Adelaide, pushing her speed to its limit before landing with a heavy thud.

The ground warped where Kara straightened and Adelaide huffed against her, warning that she thought she was going to be sick. Kara didn’t hesitate, already walking forward out from between the buildings, tearing at the blanket edge as she uncovered Adelaide’s head so she could see where they were.

“Deep breaths Addie, you’re alright, just lightheaded.” Kara glanced around, thankful this neighborhood kept mostly to itself and seemed rather vacant, though that was to be expected what with all that was happening downtown. Undoubtedly half the residents here had been invited to the museum reveal, even the one whose house she was already trudging up the stairs to.

“When she comes to get you, just tell her a friend brought you here.”

Adelaide nodded as Kara knelt down in front of her, making sure Adelaide was able to stand on her own before taking the piece of fabric she had torn and binding it to the lower half of her face.

“You’re sure she’s here?” Adelaide questioned, her voice wavering with something else, something that pulled at Kara’s heart painfully. “She’s gonna know-”

Kara smoothed her hands across Adelaide’s face, thumbing away the tears she found there, whether from the method they had arrived here or the sheer adrenaline that had flooded the girl. Her eyes were almost inhuman, lighter than Adelaide could remember and more determined than a woman merely serving just as her nanny should have ever been. Conveying everything Addie needed to pacify her for the moment.

“Cat will keep you safe,” Kara assured after another moment, only to reach up and pry her glasses off her face, folding them closed and offering them up to the girl. “This is my promise to you that I’m coming back.”

Adelaide swallowed hard, taking Kara’s glasses and putting them in a pocket to hide. “Okay... Supergirl.”

Kara pulled the girl into a hug, lifting the makeshift mask up higher over the bridge of her nose before pounding on Cat’s door and taking off in a rush into the sky, headed for the explosions tearing apart the city.

 

**\-------**

 

More than half of National City itself was occupied at the Art Museum for their grand unveiling, including the Luthor's; solidifying their alibi for the current catastrophe happening elsewhere. Those at the DEO were scrambling to account for their agents in place within Cadmus while National City’s first responders were at a loss of how exactly to go about handling the circumstances that continued to intensify themselves as every second ticked by and more 911 calls continued to flood the dispatchers.

Austin rushed to Sara, the pair of them holding their cell phones.  Austin’s text was from Kara and how Adelaide was safe, while Sara’s had Cat texting her that Adelaide had been at her doorstep and to turn on the news.

Cat was pacing across her living room, her television on but the sound muted, Carter’s playpen behind it where he was occupied with Adelaide, who tucked into a chair behind him with a blanket she refused to surrender. Carter had offered her his stuffed Rex which she hugged to her while he stayed standing against the chair and her leg, patting at her knee like one would the head of a dog.

Cat was barking orders at various people, sending a barrage of staff to the location of whatever was going on in the Industrial District while sending others to find out any information they could utilize as a cause, method, reason or manifesto for what was quickly presenting itself, at its worst, as some kind of terrorist attack.

Deep down she prayed it was merely something mundane, a gas leak, some kind of unforeseen mishap wrought from an accident and ill planning.

Nothing intentional.

Though as another wave of fire erupted into the sky, whiting out the news feed for a brief instant she felt a sickening feeling twist at her insides.

“Snapper, get your best down there but stay back, I don’t need you or anyone else on my payroll added to a list of casualties. I have eyes in the sky already, and Snapper, consider this the green light.” She scanned the air as he complied with her orders before she closed the phone.

On a table nearby her laptop was awash with information, sources and reporters in play, all updating her and their own social media outlets. She saw the footage being relayed to her via her helicopter as it settled into the area from a safe distance, while at least one of her rising reporters emailed her stating she was onsite with first responders and ready to go live.

This wasn’t exactly the presage she had been hoping for to bring her newest intention to light but it would have to do. She sent out a company-wide response, hitting phones and emails where she could, generating hashtags for them all to follow and utilize before allowing her feed to filter to the larger news outlets and one final message to those waiting.

“You’re on.”

Her gaze turned to the television then, watching as CNN scrambled with the sudden influx of new information. The closed captions on her screen relayed the anchor’s words even before the chyron had time to change its headline and subsequent crawl.

“New information sourced from National City directly, we’re getting live footage from… CatCo Worldwide Media? Confirmed now, a third explosion has taken place in the Industrial District of the city. Again this is live footage from National City’s own media outlet, it may be disturbing for some viewers.”

No sooner did she see the logo credit across the base of the footage she was supplying her cell phone rang, followed by her home phone while her own social media feed started to scroll without prompt.

“We take you live now to a Leslie Willis, a correspondent for CatCo on the scene.”

Cat’s heart hammered in her chest hard enough to break her ribs as she caught the crawl, her name and new title racing across the screen below her reporter and the frame of National City’s Industrial District bathed in fire and surrounded in the chaos of police officers and makeshift barricades. Her phone rang again, the caller ID relaying the origin of the call before she flipped open her phone again.

“Cat Grant.” She looked beyond the television then, where both her reporter and her helicopter feed were being utilized for the world’s consumption, to her son and Adelaide. “Yes... I’m the founder and CEO of CatCo...”

 

**\-------**

 

Weaving in and out of National City’s back alleys under shadow and stealth was the LexCorp transport and the cargo it held within it. It was already halfway to a private airfield slated to transport the alien pod to Metropolis and the Luthor’s main complex.

As it rounded another corner it was as if its entire center of gravity was suddenly thrown off and given its high rate of speed, sent the vehicle over on its side only to tumble end over end. Debris and mortar rained down across the street as it crumpled into the buildings set on either side of the narrow alley only to skid to a halt in a shower of sparks and twisted metal.

The driver and escort were stains on the pavement and any element that the thing had been some kind of SUV was beyond fleeting. Especially given that what was left of the car seemed to have been pounded around whatever it had been transporting. Flames caught on the drab remnants of trash and back alley fare, further compounding the situation as a sharp hiss of noise resounded.

Bystanders were already peering out windows and on phones, calling 911 before more than half seemed to retreat when the car seemed to separate into two halves all on its own from within its broken shell. Smoke and an otherworldly blue light illuminated the wreckage while a bloodied hand wrestled with a panel of the car before it fell away with a bang.

There was a sickening thump of a sound as another body hit the pavement, struggling to find purchase on the ground to stand. The figure grabbed the line of the pod she had just climbed out of, hoisting herself up before pressing a few buttons on the exposed panel, sealing the thing shut again without her inside.

“Hey! Hey you!” Someone shouted, causing the figure to turn, confusion written on her face as she grabbed for the nearest thing she could wrap her hand around, brandishing it like some kind of weapon poised to strike braced over her opposing forearm.

“Ta-non rraop!?” She shouted, even if it came across as a broken squawk. Backing up unsteadily as the pod shut itself down while the man still advanced.

“Kehgier zha lizrhom!” Her voice was raw, her throat threatening to bleed with her attempts to command the man in front of her to halt before the sound of approaching sirens and squealing tires pulled both of their attention.

With the distraction the woman turned, stumbling into the adjacent alley and bracing herself along the wall as she made her way through the shadows, weaving this way and that as lights flashed and flickered while she painfully navigated herself into an abandoned building.

She tucked herself into a corner, keeping her back against the stone as she kept watch over the windows in order to maintain the best tactical advantage until she could gain some kind of bearing.

 

**\-------**

 

“Get a line on that thing!” A fireman shouted, sending a spray of water over hot steel as his unit responded. EMT’s were on site tending to the injured while NCPD were demanding people back up further.

Surrounding buildings were on fire as well as warehouse lofts from the rain of debris from whatever series of explosions had occurred down the way. As per protocol, all emergency response staff were kept back until they could get the all clear. Causing the bulk of bystanders and emergency responders to balance on a keen edge as buildings beyond the barricades continued to burn and injured citizens tried to make their way to their post.

“It’s coming from underneath the city sir. We’ve either got a busted gas main or -”

“Don’t say it! Not til we confirm!” The officer shouted before sharp bursts of wind flung his uniform and water around everywhere. “The hell is that?!”

As the words left him six figures dropped to the street behind police lines in full tactical gear, and the stark white shock of FBI announced their organization without prompt.

“We’re taking over..”

Black SUV’s squealed to a halt, each emptying out with various personnel while another appeared to transform into a roving command center.

“What?!”

“Don’t argue, just get these people back now. I need airspace cleared and containment from all angles.” J’onn’s voice gave no room for discussion through the mask of his helmet before his fingers went to his ear.

“J’onn, I’m at the secondary site. We’ve got the pod.”

Diana’s voice was equally commanding as it came over his radio before he relayed orders for additional DEO agents en route to his location to funnel East and secure the secondary site asap.

“I and the others of Alpha team are going in, the explosions seem to have stopped and no additional traces have been detected according to the-”

“Director Henshaw look!”

J’onn turned with the shout of his agent, his comm left open as a figure bathed in fire rushed out of the core of the site where Project Cadmus had been. Spotlights were on them instantly, from his people as well as the overhead news outlets. In presence, they appeared female, but it was hard to determine, especially with their hair pulled back tight and face obscured.

J’onn’s greater concern instantly became the woman curled up in her savior's grasp.

“Vasquez..” His voice was breathless and already his team was on the move. Before anyone could reach the two, however, the unconscious figure was gently set down on the pavement, while the woman holding her, burning clothes and all, backed up into the fire only to disappear completely.

J’onn knew in order to follow he would have to expose himself, as would any other non-human agent within his complement currently. 

“J’onn?!” Diana’s voice pulled his attention as his eyes tracked a figure rising up from ash and smoke only to disappear into the shadow of the city.

"We've got her, I'm taking her back to the DEO now." He knelt down, scooping his agent up and cradling her close to him. "And Prince, I think they can fly." 

There was an odd sound on the other end of his comm before it disconnected and J'onn hugged his downed agent closer to his body as he began to make his way back towards the police barricade. 

“Secure the area!” He shouted, signaling his team forward. “I need clean up crew and containment, aerial get me trajectory of who or what just took off -now.-” 

“Lift the protocol, get EMS in here and coordinate with NCFD. Alpha team, you have point, recover and preserve but keep NCPD from declaring this as an attack. Evac under the guise this is a gas leak from the abandoned structures, and get me security footage from surrounding buildings asap.”

 

**\-------**

 

“Ampahr?” (“General?”) Winn tried again, knowing the tracker he had put on the woman the last time he saw her was active and unless she had found it and ripped it off herself, she should have been visible to him.  Winn was shaking visibly, unsure where the courage to even attempt this little coup against someone like Lillian, even with all she had claimed to provide him, had come from. Even being a foster kid with one parent dead and the other committed, Winslow Schott Jr. was not someone to be bought.

He caught movement to his right before turning only to smack right into the woman from the pod out of nowhere.

“Kir-voikirium.”(“Little Savior.”) Her voice was a growl of a noise, deeply rooted in her chest and barely above a whisper.

Winn fell backward, sending his device into pieces on the ground as he scrambled back. The scrape of her boots resounded like a thousand matchsticks being snapped until she fell at his feet onto her knees. Her hair was stark white, save for where it was almost black and wet near her temple, one arm kept close to her body while the other fanned out on the ground at his ankles to support herself.

“Oh god. What..happened.” Winn pitched himself forward to her then, a hand coming to rest on her shoulder and the other unsure of where to settle as he felt warmth pooling beneath his opposite hand.

The second she had awoken his monitor went off, sending him into a flurry of panic and motion, half afraid he would find Lillian’s goons surrounding him. After that didn’t happen as he tracked her, only now did he realize why the trajectory of this woman’s escape seemed so chaotic.

“Uskehm fish..”(“Stand up.”) He stated, watching her eyes lift to him, struggling to respond before he licked his lips and drew his posture up from the chest and out.

“Uskehm fish!” (“Stand up!”) He commanded this time, catching the barest twitch of the corner of her mouth as she fought to drag a foot out from under herself and set it flat. He squeezed her shoulder before pushing himself to a stand only to stumble forward slightly as she grabbed his shirt, twisting the material in her fist.

“Sokao-Ampahr.” (“Please-General.”) He pleaded, not entirely sure he was using the syntax correctly based on his own memory of the language provided to him by the holo-lady that had first engaged with him from the pod.

She looked up at him like some kind of dangerous animal before pulling, her body threatening to collapse again as she rose to a tremulous stand.

Winn, fastened a hand to her forearm, ducking under and around her frame, wrapping an arm around her waist to give her some additional support as he guided her through the building and into the adjacent alley.

“Ta-nim kryp dhagiehr?”(“Where are we going?”) She questioned, bracing her shoulder against the wall instead of the boy insistent upon making her walk. She felt a little stronger out of the building but no less on edge and exposed.

Years of going in and out of stasis had done her in, withered her body to practically nothing and sapped the life from her, humbling the once proud and righteous General to the whims of the Universe.

Never in a millennium would she have believed she would end up on whatever primitive planet this was, devoid of her strength and prowess, barely alive by the feel of her body and under the care of some child of a thing she had no reason not to trust.

“Voi-tahn.”(“Someplace safe.”)


	16. New Endeavors and Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat leaves her mark on the City in the wake of terror while Alex is confronted with the reality someone that will change Kara's life as she knows it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay, I had half expected to be much much farther in this by now. My company was recently aquired and I'm part of the transition team hence the lack of updates. 
> 
> I'M SO SORRY!
> 
> More to come soon (I hope) 
> 
> Thank everyone who's stuck with this or stumbled upon it and wondered WTF as to why it just stopped.

The pounding on the door pulled Cats attention, her hand going up to calm the girl who startled at the sound and its insistence. The tv was still on, captions running across the screen at a breakneck pace, CatCo’s logo’s and feed streaming proudly before she shut it off.

The door was barely pulled from its threshold before Cat had to back up, nearly tripping on the girl who had rushed out while her parents had rushed in.

“She’s alright,” Cat assured, watching Austin seize his daughter, holding her tightly before looking at her while her mother pushed aside strands of her hair. The three of them lost to some kind of knowing Cat was still out of the loop with.

She eased the door aside further, pulling the two adults inside while Adelaide clung to her father, whispering things Cat couldn’t hear nor dared to try.

“I had sworn she was with Kar-”

“She had to cancel at the last minute,” Sara answered before her husband and daughter could, looking to Cat with the utmost gratefulness. “Something about her sister and the hospital.”

Cat mm’d shifting her jaw slightly. “Excuse me a moment.”

The woman nodded before looking back to the rest of her family letting out a slow breath of relief.

“We can’t keep this up with her,” Sara whispered. 

Austin shook his head firmly. “That is not our gift to give Sara.” His wife nodded in a short series of movements before wrapping up in her family.

“I just hope she’s alright.”

“Yes, send a second unit to Pharos... but be civil about it, we’re not a tabloid.”

Cat glanced across her house at the trio, informing her runner to relay to Leslie about the second unit and that all the power was in their hands now while she dealt with something personal.

“How did you convince-” Adelaide’s hands stopped her father's words just as Cat slipped back into the room.

“I didn’t mean to pull you from your show but with the explosions and Adelaide showing up.”

“It’s alright,” Austin assured, passing his daughter off to his wife who hugged her heartily.

“I can only guess the babysitter tried to call, Adelaide said I was the emergency contact and that the address was easier to reach than me apparently.”

Austin glanced at his wife and daughter then, while Sara schooled her expression and edged aside with Adelaide to the far side of the room.

“Yes well. You are very busy and we, uhm, we’ve always known if anything you would-”

“You don’t have to explain it Austin,” Cat interjected with his floundering, stepping into the edges of his personal space. “I... I’m surprised of course but…” Cat nodded slightly, the pair of them sharing a knowing look. Easily conveying their gratitude for the other without further verbal explanation.

“Is Carter?”

Cat looked confused for a moment before seeming to come back around to herself and her son's lack of presence.

“He’s fine, he’s asleep. Thankfully.”

“There is one other question I had..” Austin cautioned his gaze drifting to her phone as it lit up for the umpteenth time since Cat had returned to the living room from the kitchen.

Cat followed his gaze, looking at the caller ID before glancing back up at her friend.

“I’m not taking you back to the Tribune on Monday am I..?”

Cat smirked faintly giving a small shake of her head.

 

 

**\--------**

 

 

Astra felt sick again, her body convulsing even as Winn pushed her into a darkened room, muting the otherwise blinding fluorescent lighting lining the ceiling of whatever ‘safe place’ he swore he had found for her.

She curled into herself on her side, her body felt like it was on fire from the inside out, pulling at muscle and threatening a revolt. The floor was cool, the cave-like surround reminding her of her command station and for a half second, she felt as if she were back home. If only she had held out longer, not been so willing to respond to her heartstrings, she may have indeed died somewhat honorably alongside her sister.

The thought churned at her insides again, forcing her eyes closed as she huffed out a breath on the back of a groan and curled tighter.

Winn made his way around a corner, passing by a nurses station only to pivot back around upon seeing whom he was looking for. He waited patiently, as well as he could, glancing back down the hall where he’d come from before he heard his name.

“Winn!” Alex’s voice was far more relieved than he expected until he took the time to look in the direction he had been headed, and the amount of chaos beyond it.

“Thank god you’re okay, I know you hang out in that area-hey!” Alex nearly tripped when he grabbed her arm and pushed her along, ushering her down the hall while checking this way and that.

“Winn, slow down what’s-”

“I need your help.”

Alex felt her heart tighten, the last time she had run into this kid he was beaten to within an inch of his life and despite how much she promised him he would be safe in the hospital there, especially with her standing guard; by rounds the following morning he had managed to slip out. She hadn’t seen him since and had almost considered scouring his mentioned haunts, the few he had revealed to her anyway, while she had stitched up his brow at the time.

“Anything, are you hurt, did those- “

“Oh shit.” He squeaked to a stop seeing two doctors standing outside the supply closet he had shoved his alien friend into.

“What?”

“Alexandra.. do you trust me?”

“Winn, I, of course, but tell me..”

“Get inside that room, whatever you do... Just get in that room and help her okay?”

“Her?”

Before she could even hope to get an answer Winn took off, making a beeline for the two men at full speed, making a point to break in between them and knock one into the wall before both men shouted and gave chase.

Alex hurried down the hall, unsure of what she was going to find as she pushed open the door and slid inside.

Astra turned into the light, thanking Rao for having mercy on her only to have it fade and slip away just as the silhouette of her god came into the haze of her view.

Alex was on her knees a half second later, fingers having threaded through the slender ones that had been reaching for her from the ground. The Kryptonian prayer was not lost on her, even if all she heard were the last familiar phrases she had heard her sister speak when she was younger.

The woman on the ground was beyond frail, withered, her skin nearly as white as her hair, her eyes cloudy and sunken in. Her words were soft but certain, enough for Alex to understand every word upon the end of her prayer.  Alex gently pushed the woman’s hair from her face, attempting to soothe her while assessing her for injuries only to twist and cover over Astra’s prone form protectively when the door opened.

“I think I lost them.” Winn’s voice sounded before he joined Alex on the floor.

“You’re not dying.” Alex turned back as Astra pleaded again, reiterating to the two humans that she was ready, she could go, that her latest sacrifice would have to serve as payment enough for Rao to judge her.

“You understand…” The question was gone from Winn’s voice as he helped ease Astra onto her back while Alex continued to check her over.  
  
"So do you," Alex stated in an odd tone after nodding her confirmation of understanding Kryptonian to him.

“Tell her,” Alex started, finding the seam of her uniform and gently prying it apart before gasping. “Tell her, I won’t… I can’t let her do that.” Astra’s ribs were clearly broken on one side and the pale base of her skin had already darkened near her hip undoubtedly from the tumble in the pod she had taken.

Astra let out another string of curses while Winn tried to reiterate Alex’s words in Astra's native tongue, as the younger woman pitched away and grabbed some supplies from the bins on the shelf.

“What the hell happened to her?”

Winn shook his head. “I don’t know, I found her in the corner of a warehouse... she, she’s been held against her will and-”

“What was your first clue.” Alex tore open another cold pack setting it against the woman’s side who hissed in response before saying something about just wanting to be left to die again.

“Listen, you’re not going to die,” Alex spoke sternly while Winn whispered in Kryptonian to the prone woman, gently stroking her hair as the only means of comfort outside of knowing her language that he could think of while she squirmed under Alex’s prodding.

“In fact you’re going to stand up in a minute, while I help you get someplace where I can really help you.”

Alex heard the protest and even before it finished she was leaning over Astra’s body, holding her face in her hands until cloudy eyes seemed to focus enough on her to make the prone woman still.

“You’re going to get up, you’re going to let me help you, and you are not going to die today. Understand?”

Astra narrowed her eyes faintly, searching the haze of Alex’s frame over her before shifting her jaw and answering quietly in Kryptonian.

“Winn, help me sit her up, we have to get her away from the rest of the patients coming in and off this floor.”

“How’re we going to hide her? She’s not exactly easy to seclude away and we’re in a hospital for crying out lou-”

Alex set her hand over his mouth as another round of voices settled over them all from outside the door. Alex recognized them easily from moments earlier before Winn had knocked them around. She pointed to Astra and made an upward motion before pointing to the opposite door across the room.

Winn nodded emphatically before looking down at Astra, again whispering in Kryptonian to her that this was probably going to hurt but if she wanted to be stubborn he could always try and find the others that had held her captive to handle her.

It was a useless threat, Alex knew it, even she wouldn’t let whoever had done this to the woman ever find her again, at least not without a fight. For all she knew, this woman was just as Kryptonian as Kara and Clark and that made her not only important but family. Before she could think more on the implication of it all, she heard the door handle turn and thwapped Winn on the shoulder to help her get the alien woman up.

Alex grabbed her uniform, using it as leverage as she and Winn hoisted Astra up from the ground with a grunt of effort and a groan of pain from the taller woman.  The injured woman’s legs refused to work properly leaving her weight to drag on Winn and Alex’s shoulders as they made for the opposite door. The three of them edged out just as the other opened behind them.  

“We’re going to draw a lot of attention like this..” Winn grunted, readjusting Astra’s arm and weight over his shoulders while Alex held onto the other as well as the woman’s waist to help guide her along.

“Next floor, if we get her up there on that ward, we can hide her away until I can get the right people in here.”

“Right people?” Winn cautioned while Astra spat out another string of Kryptonian at the both of them while trying to make her own body function.

“Yes I know it’s on fire I can feel it,” Alex answered the woman before looking around her to Winn. “My older sister. That’s the right people.”

Winn made a face as they continued down the hallway towards another door while Astra spoke again.

"No, I can't turn off the sun right now, just close your eyes." Alex offered up, pointing Winn towards the door ahead.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He groaned as Alex pushed open another door leaving them to a stairwell. “We’re going up?!”

Alex twisted while Astra leaned more of her weight into the shorter woman with the action, biting through a groan at the stretch of her ribs.

“The elevator is too risky and that little tone you hear going off means all hands to the ER, why? Because whatever she’s involved in..” Alex asserted, reaffirming her grip around Astra’s hip as she pulled the three of them towards the stairs in order to lead the charge.  “I’m betting, has to do with the explosions and fires going on down where -you- have been known to frequent.”

Winn made a face while Astra made an amused comment at Alex’s assessment of their current predicament before coming up short of breath with the sudden pitch of her body further into Alex.

“Sorry,” Alex said, adjusting her position so she could get a step higher while guiding Astra’s hand to the railing while Winn stayed at her other side. They caught each other’s eyes again before Alex backed up another step higher, glancing up the seemingly endless flight of stairs they still had to go before looking back to Astra directly.

“I know you want to do this on your own.”

Astra furrowed her brow in irritation through the narrow slit of her eyes behind the drape of her hair, before pushing up and with Winn’s help moved to the next step just as Alex stepped out of her immediate reach.

“And you’re not used to any of this, or even know me from a hole in the ground, but if you need to save face or pride, you’re not asking for help, but I’m going to provide it to you anyway, just like Winn here is.”

Again Astra’s knuckles turned pink against the white of her skin as she found the solidity of the next step and pulled herself up and Alex continued to step higher.

“But if you don’t do this, with or without help, and I’m not where -I- need to be in a few moments, people will come looking. People who won’t understand or be willing to listen, especially with as much trouble as I’ve already gotten us into now.”

Astra made a growl of a sound, deep in her chest where the fire continued to burn through her body, threatening to take her to her knees with every movement even as she shrugged her arm out from around Winn and clung to the opposite rail.

Winn chanced a look at Alex who shook her head minimally as he stayed near but didn’t touch the injured woman again as she pulled herself up another step and then two and then another following after Alex with an unrelenting determination Winn had always envisioned her having given her title.  

Within a few moments they were on the next landing, Alex watching out the small window into the hall as the nurse at the station continued on with her paperwork while the rest of the floor seemed vacant.

Astra had her shoulder against the wall, sweat lining her brow, panting through her nose, eyes shut against the brighter light and cheeks pink with her efforts while Winn stayed near her side as a sort of armrest.

“Distract her,” Alex stated, watching the nurse and then looking back to Winn.

“Me!?”

Astra spoke again, reiterating how he had taken on that role the second he had made such a ruckus with the others on the floor below them.

“Don’t volunteer yourself for something if you’re not willing to do it more than once.” Alex pressed, moving to take up Winn’s place beside Astra, easing her hand from his shoulder and around her own waist as she squared them up again.

“I don’t like this.” Winn attempted to look out the window as a doctor dropped off a chart and headed towards them.

“Just go. I’ll take care of her.”

With a defeated exhale the man shot them both a look before grabbing the door handle, he counted down from five before flinging the door open wide, pulling the doctor’s attention as well as the nurses. His voice was loud, far louder than it should’ve been on the floor, his hand on his ear as if he had lost the ability to hear properly.

Alex muttered something of her own in Kryptonian that she had heard Kara say on more than one frustrating occasion before nudging Astra who pulled herself off the wall with another sound of discomfort.

“Ex-plo-sion!” Winn emphasized, pointing to his ears when either individual spoke to him with a confused expression, “I can’t... Hear... what?!” While watching over the Doctor and nurse’s shoulder’s as Alex limped Astra down the hall.

Astra forced her legs to work a little bit more, using the last reserves of whatever strength she had burning away inside her to try and keep from toppling her and the younger woman wrapped around her side.

Alex badged into a room, the beep barely heard as they slipped beyond the threshold into darkness. The only light provided coming from the moonlight outside the window and with a few more steps Alex guided Astra down onto the medical bed.

Already she was on autopilot, pulling the curtain around but leaving the window exposed, adjusting the bed and turning down the monitors so that they were both bathed in the moon's reflective light and the city beneath it.

“I know you can understand me,” Alex asserted, putting a blanket on the end of the bed before offering a set of scrubs she had grabbed from the supply room downstairs in their haste to get out.

“I need you to stay here.”

Alex made for the lamp overhead only to have Astra grab her wrist and pull her close. Given her condition, the light and the nearness almost made the woman seem ethereal, despite the sallow and deprived nature of what Alex guessed was a once impressive and imposing figure.

“Don’t” Astra spoke, the rough edge of her voice gone but its intention clear. Her eyes were decisively more relaxed. The pounding of her head from the shards of light burning into her brain finally eased in the surrounding darkness and for the first time she could actually make out Alex’s features.

Alex swallowed hard, searching over the other woman's countenance before she felt the pressure of Astra's fingers, easing the scrubs from her grip before the woman’s hand released her wrist.

Astra spoke in Kryptonian again, repeating Alex’s own about being understood before she began to peel off her suit forcing Alex to turn in a rush so her back was to her. The general studied the other woman’s valiant attempt at modesty with a ghost of a smirk, leaving her uniform discarded on the floor as she stepped into the scrub pants and eased them over her hips from her seated position. It wasn’t until she tried to pull the top on that her ribs and body reminded her of her condition and whatever else was still burning away inside her.

“Vokai khap..” (Help me.) Astra whispered, hoping the other woman turned, “sokao.” (please)

Alex turned back in an instant, seeing the other woman bound in her scrub top, unable to pull the arms through while still remaining partially obscured by the neck. Gently she grabbed the hem, careful not to touch Astra’s exposed abdomen and the bruising she could still clearly make out.

Astra tipped her head back, freeing herself as Alex eased the top down to her waist, out of habit Alex reached around, gently gathering the white of the other woman’s hair from under the neckline and smoothing it down between her shoulder blades until Astra reached for her again.

Strong hands flexed across Alex’s forearms, conveying a gratitude it seemed the woman couldn’t vocalize properly just yet.

“Stay here. Rest. I promise.” Alex stressed, dipping closer so that she and the other woman were eye level with one another. “-I- promise you, you are safe,” Alex stated, watching that white crown of hair nod after a moment of heartbeats between them.

“Khap nim otem, Shahkh’Chahvia.” (I will be right here, Brave One)

It was a promise, Astra’s own, as much as Alex could hear her own words echoed back to her.

“Alexandra.” Her name was fed to the other woman like some kind of compulsion, the title that had been bestowed on her just then feeling too weighty, too much for the emphasis Astra had laid within its confines.

Astra tipped her head like a curious animal, and Alex swore some level of vitality had returned to the woman, be it through adrenaline or some other means she didn’t know, but Alex waited for understanding just the same. Another series of heartbeats passed between them until recognition flickered across the other woman’s features.

“Astra.” She allowed, giving Alex’s arms another absent squeeze before finally letting her grip slacken enough to release the other woman.

How Alex managed not to lose her composure she wasn’t sure but, when that name fell out and into her own awareness, she felt all of the nerves along her spine flare to life before giving a curt nod.

Without another word between them Alex stepped away, not turning her back to the other woman until she was edging out the door and into the hallway. She waited until she was a few steps away before her own adrenaline ebbed from her body with the newest revelation to hit her, sending her to her knees with a slap of her hands onto the hard floor. Of all the possibilities. Of any other Kryptonian besides her cousin and sister. Of all the people who could have possibly survived.

“Danvers? Danvers! What’s happened?!” Another nurse was at her side in an instant. The other two individuals across the way still trying to usher Winn towards the elevator, and thusly where all other patients from the gas explosion had been routed, turned as well.

Winn moved before they did, pulling the pair along as he came to his friend’s side watching as Alex shook her head over and over.

“My sister, I need to call her” She looked at Winn on that one before raising her voice as she righted herself with a little help from the nurse and Winn.

“It’s all hands, I need to get downstairs. Just tripped in my haste.”

“All you interns rushing around like everything’s on fire.” The Doctor on staff commented. “Take this guy down with you, he’s suffering from acute hearing loss, must’ve been close to the blast area or something.”

“Are you sure you’re-”

“I’m fine,” Alex interjected even if she was paler than before and her hands were shaking. “I’ve got this guy. “

“See that you do, it’s like a madhouse in here from what I’m getting via reports on other floors. People running around, knocking staff over, I’m surprised we haven’t increased security what with the press outside now.”

Alex and Winn shared a look before she spun him around giving a series of nods and making their exit albeit hastily. “No worries, I’ll pass it along.”

The two rushed down the hallway, making for the stairwell again but not before Alex pointed out Astra's room and passed him her badge. "Keep this until I come and get it, find a way back up here into her room and keep watch of her. No sneaking out and disappearing like last time or I swear I'll come find you. Understand?" 

Winn looked confused and minimally hurt before closing his fist around her badge and nodding. "Understood." 

And like two same-sided magnets upon reaching the lower floor and the chaos therein, the two parted. 


	17. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex goes in search of Kara who is nowhere to be found after exposing herself to the world

“Kara!” The door to their apartment slammed solidly behind Alex as she thundered inside, her bag forgotten to the floor, still in scrubs and grime from hours in the ER and other makeshift areas that had pulled the majority of the hospital’s staff.  
  
“KARA!?” Alex made a beeline for her sister's’ room, checking the bed, then the closet, walking through their bathroom to her room and tossing the covers about.  
  
“Damn it...” She muttered, running her hands through her hair before she made her way back into the common room, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV again picking up where she left off at the hospital and its coverage. She watched the display of graphics from various outlets as she flipped about, taking note that nearly every station was utilizing CatCo’s footage of the past ten hours events.  
  
With daylight brought new revelations. Despite all the attempted efforts from the FBI and their now second press conference concerning the incident within National City’s Industrial District, even Alex could tell the carnage reaped upon that area of the city was anything but a gas explosion.  
  
She stood there re-watching each outlet, the only thing bigger than the actual explosion was the blurred footage of some figure taking off into the sky after saving someone from the core of the blast area. The first time Alex caught it she had nearly dropped like she had prior when the realization of whom she had helped hideaway in the hospital hit her.  
  
Catching another glimpse of her sister’s heroics on the screen, and the over analysis of it all in an attempt to identify her, only made Alex that much more anxious, and worried. Not just for Kara but herself, their parents, Clark, his family and, every 'what were you thinking' plausibility given the situation Kara had thrust herself and the rest of them in. If anything Kara -should- have been home by now. She wasn’t due as Adelaide's nanny today and it wasn’t as if her sister had a plethora of nanny gigs waiting for her.  
  
“Where the hell are you?” Alex murmured, turning away from the replay footage of the night before to get her phone out of her bag, pressing the speed dial button for her sister.  
  
Alex huffed in frustration when she heard Kara’s voicemail pick up in place of a ringtone and actually considered texting their mother again.  It was expected, all things considered. What hadn't been was Alex lying about how both she and Kara were fine and not involved. If she texted her parents again, she would have to explain the lie  and before she could consider it further the tone of Kara's voicemail pulled her immediate attention.  
  
“Kara, listen to me, I need you to call me right now. It.. I didn’t want to do this over the phone. It’s about last night, please Kara I need you home. It’s about y-your Aunt Astra.” Alex hung up the phone with a snap before she could change her mind and erase the message, turning to the wall of windows in their apartment and looking towards the skies.  
  
Alex drew in a slow deep breath wondering where on Earth her sister could possibly be at a time like this and hoped wherever that was, was of her own choice and not because she had been detained in some other way.  
  
Across the country, Clark stood at full attention, watching the same footage the majority of the western world was watching at present. It had been the raised voices of his parents and Kara's that pulled him awake and kept him pinned to any news filtering through the TV.  
  
The veiled references of an attack on National City. The emergence of a new media outlet already taking all others by surprise. Most of all, the core reason for his rapt attention, aside from the location, was the heroic figure walking through the fire for the umpteenth time since he had woken up.  
  
He knew the second he saw them that it was his cousin. Call it a second sense, a kinship shared by the only other Kryptonian on a planet filled with aliens. Whatever it was, Clark knew that figure without a single whisper of doubt despite how much his Aunt and Uncle argued to the contrary on Alex's word.  
  
Their gait, the stance amidst the sea of FBI agents, even amidst the fire clinging to their clothing, those blue eyes were unmistakable. The heroic nature of the woman’s actions were not lost on him, nor the shared knowledge they both held within their DNA concerning his once proud people.  
  
In that moment, the stories he had half heartedly paid attention to, the mythos of a house he only knew he was born into, became real; and with them, his desire to rise above all the phantoms that Krypton and his own people had been to him up to now.  
  
Until the weight of his father’s hand across his shoulder grounded him, forcing him to feel the earth beneath him with the knowing squeeze along the muscle there.  
  
“Neither of you are alone, despite thinking otherwise. And you don't owe anyone, especially on this planet, what Kara is willingly doing for them right now son.”  
  
“I know Dad.”  
  
“But.” Jonathan added, with a heavy consideration. The rest of their family, including Eliza and Jeremiah were still arguing away in the kitchen while he and Clark continued to watch the footage repeat in an attempt to identify Kara again.  
  
“There will come a day when you choose as she is right now. And those choices might not be the same. Just remember, you are your own person extraordinary abilities or not, and my son, and I will always be proud of that no matter who or what you choose.”  


  
**\-------**  

  
  
Diana paced just outside the medical bays, keeping a sharp eye on J’onn as he leant over the medical bed that housed their undercover agent. Clearly reassuring her despite being in full view of other agents before smoothing a hand across her forehead and straightening away.  
  
The two shared a knowing look as the man slowly trudged back towards the Amazon and continued past her. Diana followed without pause or sound, watching the sea of agents part between them on their way to his office.  
  
He didn’t speak until the door was closed and he was certain no one could hear him.  
  
“Psychotic… backhanded b-”  
  
“J’onn..” Diana warned, studying the tension rolling across his back, threatening to reveal his true self with his ire.  
  
“Vasquez said it was an inside job, that she saw them coming from the camera’s we had her install a week ago. If we hadn't taken that chance, we'd be attending her funeral!”  
  
Diana drew in a deep breath, shifting her jaw in thought as she waited for the man to continue.  
  
“Lillian is trying to make it look like our people did it.”  
  
“Our-”  
  
“Aliens.. Outsiders. Fuel for her project and depth to her falsified warnings about those like us. She knew her project was over.” He shook his head and finally turned looking at Diana without waver. “Whatever she was doing, we haven’t seen the half of it I fear. Especially if she’s capable of…” He gestured to the mountain of paperwork on his desk, not to mention the whole of his brand new department scouring video footage of the attack.  
  
“Patience my friend, we will figure this out. We already knew she was pushing limits, and we have proof it was her that stole the other artifacts from that crashed prison years ago.”  
  
“The pod.”  
  
Diana nodded. “It’s in the secure hangar right now, which,” she held up a hand as the man attempted to move around her. “Will be dealt with by those designated to do it. You’ve got enough to take care of right now, that agent in there being one of them.”  
  
J’onn put his hands on his hips after a moment, letting out a slow breath in an attempt to calm himself while Diana gave a curt nod.  


  
**\-------**  

  
  
Kara hovered above the Earth, high enough to see across the stratosphere. Her adrenaline still pumping through her body and she felt as if it was never going to dissipate regardless of how many hours had already passed.  
  
Both hands were over her chest, eyes closed, muscles still itching to do more than just barrel through concrete and walk through fire. The wind continued to pull and whip the tatters of her clothes about, cleansing her of the scent of burning cotton and smoke.  
  
Her mind refused to give up the replay of the night before, of bodies, fire, the weight of stone and mortar against her frame as she tried to find someone, anyone to save. The heartbeat had been so faint she almost missed it. The figure had been tucked beneath steel and, what Kara could only assume at the time, some kind of holding pens for something, or someone.  
  
Before she could think, Kara had secured the owner of that heartbeat in her arms and barreled up through the ground. Ignoring the Earthen construction around her, that to humans seemed so solid and unforgiving until she was erupting through fire. She had held the woman protectively close to herself to minimize the threat she might have inadvertently posed with her sudden appearance. Seen the man who stood on the other side of that fire and knew, without doubt, the woman Kara held was one of his own despite her insignias to the contrary.  
  
Even with the danger of exposure, especially as she felt fire melting the fabric of her clothes, threatening to reveal her identity, she had maintained his gaze until their unspoken exchange had been made.

  
His agent for her freedom. However temporary.  
  
That brush with exposure had forced her to flee where no one could find her instead of heading straight home. Balanced precariously on Earth's exosphere, she couldn’t be traced or followed without knowing it. There she had remained far longer than she should have. Her Father and Uncle’s words floated in the fore of her mind from years ago within that fortress of solitude she had yet to return to since. From when she had been so unwilling to sacrifice because of what had so suddenly expected of her by her Father and Uncle as some kind of Earthly savior. She had turned her back on her lineage, her powers, everything for her family and protecting them.  
  
And yet.  
  
There were responsibilities to the path she was choosing, or more stumbling through without regard for true consequence. A part of Kara prayed it was her own will. Her own choice. Not some pre--engineered alteration of her DNA that had forced her to react with that explosion.  Despite how rash and inconsiderate of the greater picture she had been with it all.  
  
Like a knife twisting, her thoughts turned, colliding with all the rest as Addie came into her mind. The cling of her hands. The sudden hitch in her breath as Kara had flown with her across the city. How terrified her parents would have been, or perhaps still were, even if they knew partially what Kara was capable of.  
  
With that of course came Carter, and ultimately Cat.  
  
The overwhelming nature of the woman within her mind’s sensory recall dropped Kara nearly fifty feet before her eyes shot open.  
  
Kara swallowed thickly, feeling her heart beating fiercely for a whole other reason. She shook her head to try and rid herself of the revelation hundreds of thousands of feet in the sky before she let gravity take its due course.  As she fell backwards weightlessly she set her mind on her next course of action despite how loathe she was to carry it out. 

  
**\-------**

  
By sunset even more revelations had come to pass and yet no one was any closer to the one that stood out even above the nature of what had set everything in motion.  
  
Who was that masked figure?  
  
Nearly twenty four hours and no one was any closer to an answer, nor had there been any other sightings or feats of heroism since.  
  
Cat stood within the office of her newest location, towering high above National City. On the other side of the glass of her office was a skeleton crew, the rest were being recruited or flooding her interim human resources manager and recruiters with applications.  
  
The wall of televisions to her right were silent, each of them running the typical news circuits with one exception; they were still using her footage from the night before. She still had a crew on site, keeping the public informed with up to the second developments and discoveries as they happened.  
  
The cacophony of noise through her office doors was like music to her ears, even the shrill cut of her own phone filled her with a renewed vigor and purpose. She had made the right decisions, finally punched her way through all the boys club bureaucracy all the while amicably disentangling herself from her soon, but not soon enough, to be ex-husband Asher.  
  
“Cat Gr-... Hello Mother.” Cat let out a breath, turning from the view of the city and making a line to the bar she had installed in her office. Barely paying attention to the words her mother was practically threatening her with on the other line. She barely caught movement in the reflective glass as she set the lid of a decanter back into place.  
  
Keeping hold of her newly poured drink she spun about, seeing the already fading contrail across the sky headed back into the heart of her city.  
  
“Yes Mother, I do these things on purpose to make your life harder. If you’ll excuse me I’m going to do that again.” Cat hung up without a second thought, headed out onto her balcony as she tried to track the vapors dissipating to nothing once more.  
  
She licked her lips in thought before spinning back into her office.  
  
“Someone get me Leslie on the phone!”  


  
**\-------**  

  
  
There was a gentle knock at the door and both Austin and Sara looked up at the door in confused surprise. Adelaide was around a corner before either of them could stop her and the door flung open.  
  
“KARA!”  
  
The girl was in the other woman’s arms with merely a jump, luckily Kara had changed from her ruined jacket and the bandana but her skin still showed some evidence of her prior endeavors but nothing that couldn’t be excused away by something other than walking through a fire.  
  
“Hi Adelaide.” Kara’s voice was smothered into the girls’ shoulder, as Kara closed the door behind them.  
  
Austin and Sara were there shortly thereafter, exchanging knowing looks with the younger woman until Kara quietly ushered their daughter back to the floor.  
  
“Austin, Sar-” Kara’s words were cut off with the surround of Sara’s arms around her neck while Austin hoisted Adelaide up into his arms, his free hand settling on the flat of his wife’s back.  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
“I didn’t-”  
  
“You did. More than you know.”  
  
Austin eased Adelaide into his wife's arms once she released Kara, his look far more serious than it should have been.  
  
"What's wrong?" Kara asked, looking at the three of them before Sara gave her another reassuring squeeze to her shoulder before slipping away with Adelaide.  
  
"Have you been anywhere else?"  
  
Kara's brow furrowed, heightened senses picking up Sara's reassuring words about how they would continue to look out for Kara and keep her secrets but that this was far greater than stopping a bullet.  
  
"No. What's going-"  
  
"Everyone is looking for you."  
  
Kara swallowed thickly, her body tensing in sudden panic.  
  
"Cat-"  
  
"Cat knows?!"  
  
It was Austin who moved first, hands rounding Kara's shoulders to keep her steady and upright.  
  
"Has put a sort of bounty out for a picture of you. Half the amount if they simply know who you are with proof."  
  
Kara held fast to Austin's forearms, the depth of her own personal reasons for not being the hero her Uncle and Father had pushed on her years ago rising like the sickly feeling burning at the back of her throat now.  
  
She had done this all wrong, been impulsive and headstrong instead of cautious and reverent like the ghosts of her House had tried to instill in her. Before she knew it she was on her knees, fighting for air just as a harsh pounding resounded against the door.  
  
Kara put a hand to her mouth to try and quiet her hyperventilating to little effect.  
  
"Mister or Misses Lorcan? I don't know if you remember me."  
  
"Alex." Kara croaked.  
  
Sara was already halfway to the door and Adelaide took the distraction to rush to Kara's side while Austin straightened just in case the woman's sister wasn't alone.  
  
Sara opened the door, seeing the strain of worry and fear lodged within every minute point of the younger Danvers' expression.  
  
"I'm sorry, I got your information from your records at the hospital and I know I can get in so much trouble for it but I haven't heard or seen-"  
  
"She's here." Adelaide's voice interrupted any other while she continued to rub at Kara's back.  
  
"Kara? Oh God Kara! Are you hurt, where have you been, did someone-"  
  
"I'm sorry." Kara gasped, sitting on her heels as Alex bracketed her opposite side with Adelaide. Sara locked the door and made her way to the kitchen for water while Austin continued to linger near the other three for support.  
  
"I've been worried sick, Mom and Dad are flipping out and OOoof."  
  
Alex was pulled into a fierce hug, arms instinctively wrapping around her sister as Kara practically burrowed herself into her.  
  
"I'm so sorry. I didn't think, I... This... I turned away before...it cost me so much but it was worth it. Still is but-"  
  
"Kara slow down." Alex pushed, drawing back enough to pull her sisters face into her hands. "I know."  
  
Kara felt the tension around her ribs start to ease, tears having made lines in the dirt and soot she still carried with her.  
  
"You don't, can't-"  
  
"Kara. I. Know." The pair stared at one another for a series of heartbeats until Kara took a shuddering deep breath.  
  
"You're not the only one in the family who wants to help people, to save them. I didn't learn that from Mom and Dad. I learned that from you."  
  
Kara sniffled, Adelaide's hand still rubbing at her back while Sara had come to stand beside her husband, the pair almost keeping a silent vigil over the ones prostrate on the floor.  
  
"I had to." Kara's voice is almost a whisper and all Alex can do is nod.  
  
"And now you don't have to alone with it." Alex chanced a look at the pair behind her and to their daughter before looking back at her sister.  
  
"I'm putting you all in danger. I can't-"  
  
"Make decisions for all of us. What you did while stupid and not really thought out, was incredible. I'm not going to ask you to stop now, not ever, if it's what you want Kara."  
  
"I wouldn't be here if not for you Kara." Austin added, his wife wrapping him into her side as a show of her own solidarity.  
  
Adelaide reached into her pocket then, drawing everyone's attention as she took Kara's hand and pressed the woman's glasses into her palm.  
  
"We've got you, Supergirl. No matter what." The youngest of them all took inventory of the others, assured in their joint decision on the matter before looking back at Kara.  
  
"I can't ask-"  
  
"You're not." Alex interjected. "We're making our own choice, and that choice is you Kara."  
  
Kara took in a real deep breath at that, fingering her glasses for a moment before opening them up and setting them back on her face.  
  
"You're going to need something for when you take those off again." Sara said gently as Kara, Alex and Adelaide stood. "That's not going to melt, tear, or make you, -this you- recognizable."  
  
Kara hugged her sister close even as they stood there while Sara separated from her family to get a pad and pencil. Austin grabbed Adelaide, hoisting her up.  
  
"We need to talk, about this one,” he bounced Adelaide for emphasis, “and an addendum of sorts, to your super child sitting duties." Given Kara's expression given his cryptic statement he smirked softly, nudging her shoulder. "Before you leave, not now. This one has to finish the work she missed today and get ready for bed. If you'll excuse us."  
  
"Don't leave without saying goodnight." Adelaide offered over her father's shoulder as they made their way into the hall.  
  
"We need to talk too, when we're home."  
  
Kara let out a sigh, so many things were burning through her, pulling in all directions until her stomach sang the song of its people loud enough for everyone to hear.  
  
"First, you're going to eat," Sara stated, hands full with varied items for sketching. "You too." She gestured to Alex. "The past day or so has been rough enough especially for you two. Kara you know where things are, and Alex, right?"  
  
The woman nodded, as she and Kara were ushered into the kitchen.  
  
"You're going to help her and yourself to whatever you find, then we're going to sit here and make sure this Supergirl is far more recognizable than Kara Danvers could ever be."  
  
"How will we even begin to make anything strong enough for Kara not to destroy?"  
  
Kara chewed on the corner of her mouth, the reality of what Sara was proposing, or more taking up responsibility for taking root in her chest.  
  
"I have a way." Alex looked struck but Kara squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I'll show you I promise, when we leave here." With Alex's nod after another heartbeat she looked back to Sara before stepping over and grabbing a colored pencil.  
  
"It has to have this on it somewhere."  
  
Alex tipped her head while Sara Rose an eyebrow curiously.  
  
"An 's'?"  
  
"That was on Clark's blanket and your shirt."  
  
"It's my family's house, our motto, and it's a symbol, my symbol."  
  
"For?"  
  
"El mayarah..." Kara set the pencil down then, looking to the other women. "Stronger together." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been 984 years since I updated...
> 
> There is a series of character portraits on my Tumblr blog for anyone interested, under the tag #fic cast


	18. Words Left Unsaid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara remembers ghosts of her past while a would be phantom in the present pays her a visit. Elsewhere both sides of the same coin discuss the mystery hero and what to do about it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quotes from Superman the Movie & Man of Steel used here just not from their originating characters.

Kara sat on the edge of the couch, her phone pressed to her ear as she repeated Alex’s message to her from when she had been floating above the world for the umpteenth time since she had plugged it in.  There were others of course from her parents, and her Uncle Jon even Clark but it was Alex’s that had stirred something deep within her to an almost terrifyingly hopeful level.

“It's about your Aunt Astra.”

The only reason she wasn’t talking to Alex at present was that the other woman was asleep in her bed.  Having been up from the night before all through her shift and further, the adrenaline of worry concerning Kara’s whereabouts had finally ebbed at the Lorcan’s.  Kara hadn’t the heart to wake her at the time and Austin refused to take no for an answer concerning driving the two women home.  

That gesture had been equivalent to the one his wife had provided her concerning the mantle she was still warring with taking up.  The suit that Sara had designed was far superior to the one still nestled within a Kryptonian stasis crystal at the fortress of solitude.  It had been waiting for her ever since she was eighteen, and when she had returned there earlier today it remained.  She had stood in its shadow for a long time scouring over her intentions and the ones held by her Uncle and Father. With a heavy hand, she had reactivated the A.I. of her Father, preferring to keep her Uncle out of their discussion.  

_“You enjoyed it,” Zor-El spoke reverently, trying not to color his words as Kara stood amidst the crystalline control panel._

_“I don’t know what to say, Father, I.. I just got carried away.”_

_“I anticipated this Kara-”_

_“You couldn’t have…” She scoffed, looking up at him, then to the suit and back with a small shake of her head. “You couldn’t have imagined…”_

_“How good it felt.” He responded gently._

_Kara stared at him for another heartbeat before twisting her mouth and nodding even as she squared herself once her father stepped out of the holo-matrix and started towards her._

_“You are revealed to the world.”_

_Kara tipped her chin up, feeling the weight of his words settle into her body.  There was no going back now, only forward and she would be damned if it were on his or her Uncle’s terms._

_“So be it.”  He rounded behind her, taking in her proud form with an even more prideful swell of his own.  “You must not be so rash to lend aid. You must protect yourself, your life, your identity as Kara Danvers even more now.”_

_“Why?”  She knew her own reasons, knew the truth of his statement and its adaptation to consider her chosen life from when she had heard this all before._

_“The reasons are three: First, you cannot serve humanity twenty-eight hours a day.”_

_“Twenty four.” She corrected gently, turning her features to regard the man over her shoulder._

_He offered her a half smile with that before continuing. “Or twenty-four, as it is in Earth time. If you are found out if the people of Earth know who you are at all times...  Your help would be called for endlessly, even for those tasks which humans could solve themselves because they're happy to abuse their resources in such a way.”_

_Kara shifted her jaw at that, turning her gaze back ahead of herself as his words swirled around the chamber._

_“Secondly, not unlike any primitive world, their governments and military forces will see you as a weapon.  Some for peace and others for war.  They will strive to contain you, to turn themselves into something like you for their own selfish and misguided means.  Or they will try to destroy you. Humans are particularly precarious with those that are different and certainly more powerful than they could conceive.  It is a hubris that infects their nature like it does all beings at some point in their evolution.”_

_“And thirdly?”  Kara felt her heart grow cold as images of her family sparked to life in her mind, including Cat and Carter before she closed her eyes in an attempt to push the visions aside. Already knowing the third answer despite her prompt for it._

_“Thirdly,” Zor-El touched her shoulder then, turning her around easily until both hands rested on her shoulders.  His expression was compassionate and almost genuine in its fear of the truth wrapped within his next statement knowing what it would mean for his daughter in the times to come.  “Your enemies will discover their only way to hurt you, will be through hurting those you care for.  And those that will come to care for you all on their own without even meeting you.  By the example of your deeds alone.”_

_He reached up then, fingertips brushing across her cheek as if trying to assuage the gravity of how difficult her life had been, and would continue to be and how he nor her mother had ever wished that for her._

_“Thank you, Father.”_

_Zor-El smiled gently, seeing the tears pooling in her eyes.  “Lastly, do not punish yourself for your feelings of vanity. Simply learn to control them. It is an affliction common to all, even on Krypton… Our destruction could have been avoided but for the vanity of some who considered us indestructible, and others unwilling to listen to those like your Aunt who would have sacrificed everything to stop it.”_

_Kara lifted her hand then, surrounding her father’s own and squeezing gently, chasing the chill of the a.i. away, however briefly._

_“Were it not for vanity, at this very moment... I could embrace you in my arms…”_

Kara’s thoughts were pulled with the knock at her door, brow furrowing as she turned to inspect the door with a lowering of her glasses only to nearly drop her phone to the floor.  Only her reflexes kept it from clattering loudly as she got up and made her way over.

Austin had warned her that Cat had brought her up to him again. That she might actually stop being stubborn and reach out to her after everything that had happened since New Years.  Kara just hadn’t expected it to be within a few hours of his mentioning it.

As quietly as she could muster she unlocked the door, drawing the slider open and coming face to face with one Cat Grant.  She practically glowed, full of energy and a vivacious nature that Kara could only attribute to the launch of her network and how its name and her reputation had spread like wildfire beyond National City.

“Are you going to just stand there?”  

Kara shook her head and stepped back, allowing Cat inside.  

Cat studied the woman as she passed, looking at the apartment she had only ever seen in the dark of night.  Although this time there weren’t seven other people slumbering about for her to consider.  Each step echoed around them, obscured only by the closing of the apartment door behind her.  

“We have to stop meeting like this,” Kara mused although the genuine humor her tone could have held was missing.  Kara jammed her phone into her back pocket, heading for the fridge for a bottle of water, her throat suddenly dry.  “Although I’m surprised you’re here at all.”

Cat drew in a deep breath at that, noting Kara’s quieter tones and could only assume her sister was asleep somewhere within earshot.  She dropped her gaze down to the bottle Kara offered her and shook her head once in the negative.

The two remained in silence with one another. Kara set the bottle intended for Cat on the island between them anyway and stepped back until she was pressed into the opposite countertop.  Leaving plenty of room for her and Cat, and providing a buffer to their voices for Alex’s sake.

Cat lifted an eyebrow, settling her bag within one of the chairs bracketing the island before wrapping her hands around the back edge of the seat.  

“I never fired you.”

Kara shifted her jaw, unsure why she was so on edge or even, dare she say it, hurt.  She had been disappointed certainly when Cat had told her to leave on New Years.  Even when they had only barely talked at Pharos a week after, while that disappointment had lingered it wasn’t as if she hadn’t been released from a job before.  

Then again she hadn’t been under the employ of someone else so close to a former employer like she had with Austin.  Riding around the city knowing Cat's warmth still lingered on the leather and her perfume in the air.  Where she had thought their separation would have eased the feelings that had bloomed in her weeks ago, she had been terribly mistaken.  That much was evident in the range of emotions she seemed to be experiencing here now, with Cat standing in her living room all over again.  

Kara stood across the room, her room, her living room, her space, her life.  Her everything was in that room, including Cat who stood opposite her, studying her carefully.   What little time had passed practically felt like a lifetime between them.  She swallowed visibly, before giving a curt nod of acknowledgment.

“I never deposited your payment for this month.”

Austin had been right about that much, and with that revealed truth, Cat couldn’t help the incredulous little laugh that left her or the smirk it carried with it.

“I… I’m not even sure why you came when you could have easily called.  Thank you for what you did wi-for my sister and-”

“I didn’t come here to talk about your sister.” Cat interrupted, stepping closer as Kara floundered to finish her sentence. “I came here for you.”   That made Kara straighten further as Cat stepped closer until the island was pressing into her own back.  

“Someone, very recently, brought a proposal to my attention,”  Cat folded her arms across her chest.  “And while I know, you are your own person with your own life and other responsibilities and I.. “

“Have been stubborn and self-involved.” Kara finished, causing Cat’s eyes to cut up sharply.  “Not without merit, but,”  she left the rest of her statement open to interpretation, hands flexing around the edge of the countertop.

“Are you going to let me finish?” Cat finally asked far more genuinely than their initial conversation had begun, the near rehearsed statements she had intended on making to Kara easily being pushed aside.

Kara worried her bottom lip a bit before giving a small nod.

“Carter has made a large request of me, involving your family.”  Kara drew breath to interject but Cat tipped her head knowingly and Kara remained quiet.  “He misses you, wants you around.  Adam and Lois were able to step in for you after I sent you away, and admittedly that was a connection he needed to create with them.  So thank you, for that.”  

Cat shifted her weight slightly, glancing at the floor a second, taking a moment to gather her thoughts.

“What you’ve done for Austin and his family, your sister at the hospital with him and after.”  Cat nodded a few times, and Kara watched the woman’s aura struggle with a rainbow of emotions.   She started to move from her place against the kitchen counter until Cat held up a hand stopping her short.

“I’m not asking you to stop working for them, quite the contrary.  As much as I have grown accustomed to it, with everything that’s happened and is still happening, I can’t keep Carter in my office every minute of the day like I could at the Tribune.  No matter how behaved he is, and no one, save for maybe my senior editor, is allowed to come near him.  His choice.”

Kara swallowed thickly, trying to imagine how difficult it must be for Carter to allow anyone near him, and how much more taxing it had to be for his mother given her own new ventures that in a way mirrored Kara’s own.   Another part of her, a more logical part of her mind made itself known, echoing Austin’s mention of a bounty Cat had placed on her, well her Supergirl persona.

“You have every reason, every right to say no.  To be honest I half expect you to.”  Cat eased off the island then, closing even more distance between the two of them.  Kara watched her fight for words as if worried that showing a fuller range of emotion while speaking would somehow taint the sentiment of them.

“I think… and I might be coming to know… that maybe I need you too, Kara.”

**\-------**

Lex Luthor stood in front of a line of windows, overlooking the great city of Metropolis.  Hands in his pockets while agents behind him were cleaning up the mess that used to be a person.  In this instance they had merely been bearing a message, his counterpart was still seated across from the young mogul’s desk.

His hands were making divots in the arms, while his heart pounded somewhere in his throat and somewhere in his mind, he was thankful he hadn’t soiled himself with his companions demise moments prior.

“Do we have anyone we can contact to locate the pod?” Lex finally questioned, shifting the focus of his gaze to the reflection of the man behind him. “Or the subject?”

When silence answered him Lex turned to look over his shoulder, casually eyeing the seated man.

“A….any agents we had, you, Director Lil… they were eradicated at the facility.”  The man stumbled over himself, hearing the plastic wrap and zip ties behind him. His heart beat even harder as Lex turned around completely, eyes narrowed while mulling over the man's words.

“We have no one then.  No one outside mother’s little project that can get us anything?”  

Lex pressed a button on his desk, the arms of the chair the man was in giving way to restraints that locked around him.  

“Alexander!”  Lillian’s voice tore through the office space as his fingers hovered over another button on his desk.  

“Mother, just in time.”

“It’s not his fault for any of this nor having the knowledge you’re trying to sweat out of him.”

Lex drew his hand back into his pocket with a small sigh.

“You are the one who ultimately failed son.  While you learned plenty from your father, it amazes me after everything you never learned the basic most fundamental element from me.”

“Which is Mother?”

“The most important things must be handled personally.  Otherwise,” she set her hand atop the young man’s head strapped to the chair he was in as her son’s agents made their way with their package out of the space.  “Anyone can claim the deed as their own.”

“Then it is you I should be punishing?”

Lillian actually smirked and tipped her head, brushing her gloved hands together.  “Cute, but you realize I took care of my business in National City.  My hand was the one that set that whole ordeal in motion, in person.  My mistake was assuming you would have the same gravity towards the situation and the importance of my work, for your benefit.”

Lex shifted his jaw dangerously, hands fisting in his pockets as he studied his mother before glancing at the man still strapped down.

“Besides, there is no answer he could grant you that would be satisfying.  He’s not any higher on a ladder of knowing than the cockroach crawling across the floor of your lobby.  Now let him go.” She warned, watching him hesitate before crossing her arms over her chest.

Lex reached over then, hovering over the same button as before only to press the one beside it, releasing the man who was quick to get up with a small utterance from Lillian beside him.  He stumbled out a second after, his footfalls heard easily as they faded away towards the elevators.

“Now.” Lillian began again, stepping closer to her son’s desk before setting on its edge.  Expertly removing her gloves with a well-practiced aristocratic flair. “Wouldn’t all that energy be better served in locating the unexpected variable from our little endeavors in National City?”

Lex’s brow furrowed, coming to sit in his chair before sliding further forward, head leaning into the touch of his mother’s hand against the side of his face.  “Meaning?”

Lillian’s fingertips drifted from his cheek, dipping into her purse before dropping paper after paper concerning who the mysterious flying wonder was in National City. Lex straightened slightly, reading over the banner headlines of National City’s Tribune, The Post, The Gotham Gazette, Picture News, even Metropolis’ own Daily Planet were crawling with the carnage of their endeavors.  As the standfirst.   

He opened up each one, expecting something, anything more concrete than a simple summary only to be met with the same blurry shot from frozen camera footage of a masked flying figure.  Each outlet clamoring for the public to rise up and provide some kind of information on the matter.  A few outlined the possibility of a new government response team test run to a contrived hoax by some firebug bent on self-appointed heroism.  

There was no mention of the efforts Lillian had tried to set in motion, though as far as public consumption went, any mention of obscure activity or alien symbols was slim to none.  She knew the murmurings of their natures were running rampant between a few of her government contacts still loyal to her cause of prevention and control. This flying hero appearing out of nowhere only added more fuel to those who viewed aliens as a poison to Earth.  It was easy to manipulate those sentiments with the examples she had provided before now with what she had found in that prison ship years ago.  

Now it appeared, at least to those she had eating out of her palm, that they were indeed otherworldly beings subtly taking control of the planet by making humans worship them.  That much was already blooming what with the public fascination of this new figure in National City.  If Lillian had any say in it, she would continue to push the agenda that said beings should be purged from the planet if unwilling to cooperate as registered government properties.

Suddenly and without warning newspapers went flying and with them, the bang of Lex’s chair resounded against the glass as he made his way up.  There was clearly the matter of shifting her son’s focus to the proper cause, not the grandiose objective.  She wondered if he would ever learn about the small steps. 

“They’ve stolen your moment Mother! Our moment to step in and make LexCorp an international standard.  Not only that but the incompetence of those very men, whom I had thought were loyal and devoted, _misplaced_ the pod of your favored subject.  That was why they had to learn a lesson Mother. One you circumvented, and instead of fear mongering or terror and outrage veiled behind the incompetence of the herd that are the people of this planet not being able to understand the signs left behind, all of it has been shoved aside by this… THIS…”

“Perfect opportunity.”  Lillian supplied, barely having moved as her son rampaged on.  He whirled on her interruption, crossing the room until his hands fenced either side of her body flat on his desk.

He tipped his head dangerously at her, the pair of them practically sharing the same air as he waited to the count of ten before responding in a far calmer tone.

“Perfect. Opportunity. How?”

Lillian patted his cheek gently, giving him a soft smile. “They have a taste for this now.  I can feel it.  And a Luthor always trusts their instincts don’t they my son?” 

Lex drew in a deeper breath, expelling it in a rush that caused his nostrils to flare before nodding a bit.

“Mine, are telling me this… inconvenience will prove to be just the little turning point we needed.  That last little push to those still on the fence.”

Lex leaned back from her then, letting her turn on the desk before sliding off its edge and coming to a stand, forcing him to step back completely.  

“I believe there’s something inherently dangerous when something real becomes mythic. Because when faced with a myth we can’t win. So the mythic must be exposed for what it is. So we can believe in ourselves. Because it’s only what’s in us…the drive to be mythic…that matters.” Lillian straightened her jacket and tipped her head at him just as curiously as he had her moments ago.

“Remember those words Alexander Luthor, they will serve you far more than I ever will.”  She took his face in her hands, searching his eyes for the longest time before leaning forward and placing a soft kiss in the center of his forehead. “Tell me you understand.”

“Yes, I understand mother.”

**\-------**

J’onn, or as he appeared, Hank sat in his office mulling over the results his agents had pulled from the video footage Vasquez had managed to download before the attack as well as footage from said agent’s rescue.  Diana had returned to Metropolis for the time being to settle some elements of her personal life as well as to settle on a proper location for an expansion concerning the D.E.O.

Luckily given her inherent talents, the Amazon had managed to decipher a large portion of the Kryptonian language associated with the pod allowing his agents to turn their focus on to it.  That had been fruitful, until the pod went into some kind of lockdown mode and all any agent could decipher was that it needed a particular key, DNA coded.  Having a vague but at least pre-existing knowledge of the pod’s origin he knew there was very little if anything they could do.  Even if he altered every molecule in his body to match that of a Kryptonian, it wouldn't be the one the pod was clearly requesting.  

They had been at a stalemate with it ever since.  There was still plenty for them to catalog and research but eventually, the minutia of those smaller elements would run out. He was also very aware that there was some rogue Kryptonian, undoubtedly injured or at the very least confused beyond measure roaming National City’s alleys unchecked.

That knowledge had initially been the cause for his retreat into his office, that and the pod’s signatures.  Had the individual been anything other than Kryptonian he might have been able to locate them with ease.   He glanced up from his screens, checking the door before drawing a key up through his own body into his palm.

With it, he rolled his chair back, toeing the rug there up before fitting the key into the slot in the floor.  He withdrew a single file folder then shifting his seat as he opened it up on his lap and then to the screen in front of him.  

The trace elements of the three signatures he was looking at were not identical but did carry enough variables to at least be of the same initial origin.  The major differences between the three were in the timing.  The pod they currently had within the D.E.O.’s facility had arrived nearly an hour after the pair that had crashed somewhere along the eastern coastline.  There had been plenty of debris to hide those two signatures in, especially considering the sizeable area that Fort Rozz had taken up, at the time.

And in all honesty, was still taking up in the Nevada desert.

In the following months of that incident over ten years ago J’onn had taken it upon himself to obscure those two results, carrying out his own investigation concerning their exact locations but had far less to go on then as he did now.  Especially considering the two signals in Maryland had yet to show up again since.  Contrary to the pod in their possession now.  Its signature had continued to permeate the months and years from then to now ranging from the Nevada desert, to somewhere near Washington DC, upstate New York, to nowhere Montanna and finally California's own National City.

There was more than one reason why J’onn had diverted Diana’s more focused attention on one Kara Danvers.  Especially when he turned a few more pages over in his file and dossiers on Jeremiah and Eliza with his own native Martian writing starred up at him.  

He slid the grid line of the east coast and its surrounding locations over the two individuals, taking note of the initial pod drop points somewhere within the vicinity of Maryland.  Jeremiah Danvers was a contractor at Goddard Space Flight Center, his wife Eliza a biology professor at Johns Hopkins.  Smallville was a stone’s throw to their hometown of Midvale and given their daughter’s trajectory to the opposing coast even without attempting to read their minds even from this far the coincidences were too close to be considered happenstance.  

As a matter of trust, J’onn had made it a point to block his own alien abilities unless it was absolutely necessary.  While this current argument was a good one, deep down he knew there would always be the question of genuine trust were they to ever find out his own alien assets.  Of course, being human, they would probably question them regardless but at least this way he could be absolutely genuine in not having known with certainty if this Kara Danvers was indeed an orphan of Krypton. Or just how involved her adoptive family was with said knowledge.

With a weighted sigh, he closed the folder, setting it back within its hidden confines, securing the key back within his own body before reaching across his desk to the phone.  

“Secretary Marsden, it’s J’onn.  I need to bring on a couple of civilian contractors.  Yes, yes I underst- Olivia.  Ma’am… I would not ask, were it not of the utmost importance.”  J’onn searched the air a moment waiting for her response.  “Jeremiah Danvers and Eliza Slater Danvers, and Secretary, I’m going to need full clearance.”


	19. By the Light of Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex reveals the truth waiting for Kara at the hospital and discovers something about herself in the process

Kara sat impassively in her living room, watching her sister pace back and forth enough to wear a groove in the floor in an effort to put the appropriate words of explanation regarding this message situation concerning Kara’s Aunt.  At least as far as Kara assumed anyway.  With no sleep under her own belt, she had made sure once Alex woke that she was fed heartily and settled before broaching the subject with her again.  Which, for the past twenty minutes, had resulted in their current state.

Kara drew in a deep breath, determination set in her shoulders as she pushed to a stand only to catch Alex when she ran smack into her amidst the intense pacing.

“Alex… just tell me.”

Alex stood ramrod still. She knew she could just blurt it out but there was something so unforgiving in the phrase ‘ _your dead aunt is alive, and nearly died again but I saved her and hid her away with a homeless, or I think homeless kid...'_

What if this Astra wasn’t _Kara’s_ Astra.  There were bound to be others with that name, just like on Earth.  She wasn’t the only Alex, even Kara wasn’t the only Kara on Earth or maybe even Krypton.  They hadn’t really delved into Kryptonian naming conventions prior to now there had been no reason to, but it was something to consider now.

Alex had gone about this all wrong. She should have just told Kara in that voicemail. She should have just told Kara when she finally found her in person. Not waited out the company of practical strangers, despite their helpful natures or allowed herself to fall asleep despite having been up for nearly 40 hours or-

“Alex!”  Kara was clearly worried, it showed in her expression and most of all her gaze and Alex had to grab hold of her sister’s arms to let her know she was clutching a little too tight.

“Last.. the night before, with the explosion and everything, when I was at the hospital. There’s this kid, right? I’ve helped him before and he showed up but-”

Alex’s ramble was cut short by the warble of her phone and while Kara’s expression longed for her not to answer it, she still turned her eyes to the sound coming from Alex’s rear pocket. Alex remained still, fighting with herself all over again if she should just to answer it or let it continue to ring.

“For Rao’s sake, Alex answer it.”  Kara was already in motion reaching for the thing until she was nudged aside.

Alex regarded the caller ID with a grumble of annoyance. She wasn’t even scheduled until the night shift. There was no reason for them to call unless her shift was changed or they were short-handed. Which was the last thing she needed to happen right that instant. 

Kara stepped back, giving her sister space, already knowing it was the hospital given Alex's response before her sister even flipped open her phone.

“Danvers. This better be really goo- Winn?"  

The tonal fault of Alex’s voice caused Kara to straighten somewhat. Her brow raising high as she overheard the young man on the other end chattering, even faster than Alex could. Something about a _she_ that was getting out of hand with her ceaseless questions. How he was running out of ways to sneak in and out of a room and that Alex needed to get back there, right now, before someone came to claim it for an actual patient.

Alex tried to talk him down, tried to interject between the space of his words only to be stopped by her sister who put a hand on her shoulder before absconding with the phone.  

“She’ll be there shortly, with help.”

“Who’s this?”

“Winn don’t hang up it’s my sister!” Alex rushed as Kara glanced at her with a frown then back to the phone.

“Oh thank God. Perfect, I’ll just-”

“Stay put,” Kara said in an authoritative tone that even made Alex raise an eyebrow before she shut the phone with a resounding snap and passed it back to her sibling who rushed to put on her jacket. 

Kara let out a dark sigh, her head shaking gently upon hearing Alex flounder over apologies while grabbing the keys and yanking on a pair of boots.

In reality, Kara wanted to just grab Alex up, jump out the window and fly to Pharos, knowing it would be far faster.  Although, fairly, that was more than likely due to all the pent-up energy and anxiousness from the past forty-eight hours. Coupled and compounded with this constantly hindered explanation of Alex’s message from the night before.

Given the fact that it was broad daylight and half the world was clamoring to get a photo of her super self or information as to who she really was outside of it, thanks to Cat no less, driving was by far the smarter alternative. 

"I'm driving." Kara spoke again in that no-nonsense tone, snagging the keys from between Alex's teeth with a small 'hey' of protest before shrugging into her own jacket.

Twenty minutes, and an uneventful ride across the city later, Alex guided Kara through the parking garage she insisted they hide her bike in.

"Honestly, if you're going to drive like that you should skip the cape and get on the motocross racing circuit or something Kara, geeze." 

"Are you actually complaining? You're the one always saying I drive too slow!"

"It's a forty-five minute ride without traffic Kara! I think if you could have flown here you would have." 

Kara made a face and shouldered her sister onward. "This Winn kid needs our help, right?"

"A likely excuse. Just... Warn me next time? I'm only now getting feeling back in my fingers."

With little effort, Alex led her sister through the side entrance of the hospital, namely used for employees. She stuck her head around a corner, looking around a bit to see who might be on duty. After another minute, she signaled her sister to follow before skulking along. Thankfully, being outside of her usual scrubs and ponytail, she hoped the two of them would be overlooked as aimlessly wandering civilians in search of bad coffee or the cafeteria.

“Sometimes I think you should have gone to work in law enforcement or something,” Kara remarked as they moved along.  Alex had been leading the way ever since they were a block from the facility with practiced efficiency. Presently she was weaving the pair of them through the many corridors and thru-spaces most other people would get lost in after three turns or less.

“Escape routes, I was always one for escape routes.”  Alex turned one way only to slip into a supplies room with Kara right behind.  

“Alex, why would we need an escape route?  What kind of trouble is this Winn guy in?” Alex was already at the other door, the room all too familiar and with Kara’s question, she halted completely.  

“A lot more than he’s told me I think, more so now than when I first met him.”

“We really need to have a conversation with you and your penchant for stray things...” Kara stepped closer, seeing the anxiety and trepidation rolling off Alex’s aura in waves double in intensity over the rim of her glasses.

“Because he’s been running away from someone, and this time, I think he stole something from those people.  Maybe more than one thing and he’s in a lot more trouble, trouble no one can help him with.  Except maybe you...”

Kara examined her sibling like she had three heads and a tail.  Her mouth was slightly agape and her fingertips were curling towards her palms absently in obscure patterns.  

“Alex,” Kara asserted, watching her sister’s expression grow more crestfallen and perhaps a touch fearful.  “Alex.” Kara let out an audible breath before licking her lips absently.  “What were you going to do if-”

“Look, you’re, you’ve always... You’re bulletproof and you can pick up a tractor with a finger, and now you’re this, you’re going to be this hero. If anyone-”

“Not the point Alex.”

“So it’s only if you choose it?”

Kara let out a sigh. “No. Alex not, no.  But I can’t save everyone trying to run away from something.  I can try, I will try, but just like I have to be careful, you have to be careful too. -We- have to be careful.  There’s a reason I helped Dad and Uncle Jon hide our pods right after Clark and I landed and why I refused to take any of this 'hero stuff' up before now. There are people, governments, corporations who would-”

“This time, Winn knew Kryptonese when he found me.”

Kara straightened back sharply, a frigid chill clawing up her spine with that singular revelation.

“And had someone with him. Someone, I think he helped rescue from those very examples you just provided. Th-that’s the trouble he’s in.”

Kara felt the pace of her heart thunder away at her ribs painfully while her lungs tightened in their attempt to gather more oxygen.  Alex reached for her sister then, fingers curling around her wrist in an attempt to ground her but Kara drew her arm away after a second, causing Alex to shrink back again.  

“You should have told me over the phone,”  Kara stated flatly, trying to pacify herself from doing something, anything irreversible in that moment.

“You weren’t around. Again.”  Alex knew her words stung the second they left her mouth.  Even before Kara reacted to them.  The feeling was akin to regret but far closer to a sensation of unease nestled deep within her chest.  Throttling her heart and suffocating her lungs. She watched Kara’s mirror crack as her eyes turned red with their unrestrained emotion, pooling from, what Alex knew, without doubt, was her sister’s guilt. Before it was siphoned away in a blink.

“Take me to hi..them.”

 

“Someone’s coming,” Astra’s finite implication of caution was not lost on Winn, even in her native language as his brain translated it to him.  He still wasn’t sure how that was possible but attributed it solely to something far beyond his understanding or control for now.

Just as before he pulled the curtains back around the woman still settled in the medical bed while he moved around to the windowed side of the curtain, pulling his legs up in the seat and leaning forward so that he couldn’t be seen unless someone came completely around the both of them.  Astra had promised him should someone enter, she would be able to warn him even with the curtain in the way and he hadn’t questioned it.  

“Winn.” Alex’s biting whisper scarcely breached the door.

“The Brave One is back,” Astra said gently in Kryptonese knowing her companion hadn't heard it, sending Winn into a flurry of motion as he rounded the curtains and practically smacked into the door upon opening it.

“I didn’t realize when you said stay here until I get back meant, stay here indefinitely until I return which could be days or maybe weeks or mhfpfjhr!”

Alex’s hand was over his mouth as soon as she could manage it, pushing him back and stepping into the room itself with her sister right behind her.  The door closed solidly as Alex continued to push Winn back and he still tried to complain against the muzzle of her hand.

“Are you trying to get us caught!?  I didn’t know it was going to be more than a few hours Winn.”

“Alex let him go.”

There was a resounding gasp from behind the curtain and the other three turned towards the obscured medical bed a few feet away.  Kara caught the shadow of movement behind the privacy curtain, watching the fabric crumple as the other individual’s fingers curled around it and wrested it away.

Kara felt as if the ground beneath her had collapsed to the core of the Earth, threatening to pull her with it.  Faster than the blink of an eye strong hands were around her shoulders, the breadth of a thigh cushioned her weight and the firm press of a forehead against her own pulled her undivided focus.

Instantly she felt blinding loss inundated with a near endless pain, tethered by confusion fueled trepidation that was tempered in a justifiably righteous fury. Only to have it all melt and simmer into a kind of reclamation shrouded in solace and equanimity. Anchored by what could only be described as a sense of belonging and unconditional love.  

Kara’s hands tightened severely within the dark hair of the woman supporting her.  Pressing their foreheads together to the point of trembling until powerful arms encircled her fully.  The very real, unyielding form of Astra’s body hugged her tightly, tight enough to actually manifest a genuine kind of discomfort in its vice. 

Kara sucked in a deep breath, breaking their intense connection as she surrounded the woman, this warrior revenant of her mother, in her own unrestrained hug. Concealing her face in the other woman’s shoulder as the sound of her emotions were poured into Astra’s body.  

Kara didn't have to be considerate in the restraint of her brute physicality. There were no infinite amounts of equations applying to physics running under her thoughts or an overwhelming mantra to be gentle coursing through her mind. She didn't have to remind herself to speak English if she said anything at all or hold any expression of herself at bay as she swore through her tears. Fingers dug hard enough to split fabric while arms flexed until the muscles nearly locked and her legs curled up for their own purchase of Astra's body.

Alex had released Winn the second Kara had gone down.  However, it was his turn to hold Alex back when she tried to intervene.  He knew she understood his restraint of her the moment she relaxed.  

Alex stood watching the pair, knowing with absolution that this was indeed Kara’s Aunt and she hadn’t been some stray Kryptonian with the same name.  As reassuring as that was, it was almost immediately surpassed by the new sensation flooding her system.  

The woman on the floor wrapped around her sister was anything but the frail tottering individual she had left behind not a day ago.  Near translucent, paper-thin skin was now warm and vibrant. Listless and pallid features had been replenished, now flush with passion and vitality.  The brittle, shock white of her hair was gone, superseded with copious umber lengths that grazed the floor. Save for one uninterrupted streak of white lightning left behind.   

“Who the hell is that..” Alex whispered under her breath, causing Winn to lean close.

“The General.  I went out to get food and came back to _that_.”

Eyes raised over the crown of Kara’s head leveling on Alex, and the younger woman reached for Winn's shoulder before taking a step back. Previously blackened orbs had transformed to an intense hazel set alight with such a fire behind them that it took Alex’s breath away.  Astra's metamorphosis was something Alex hadn't even thought to consider, not in any of her wildest imaginings. Then again, neither were the thoughts that ruptured from her mind and through her veins once their gazes met.

Kara sniffled hard, chuckling gently as she responded to her aunt in their native language.  Winn’s snicker pulled her attention as she wiped her nose, suddenly remembering they weren’t alone before looking at her dumbstruck sibling.

“Rip riv threv zhev Shahkh’Chahvia?” **

“Zhi, Kir’Chahvia.” **

“That's the first thing you do?! You make fun of my, whatever it is she gave me, when she calls you, _Little One_?!”

Both women, faces a mess with emotion, settled on Alex.

“There's the family resemblance,” Winn uttered causing Astra to crack a grin while Kara actually laughed.  

Astra's hands surrounded Kara's face, wiping tear tracks from her skin before whispering to her. Kara nodded and took a deep stuttering breath before letting it out in a rush.  She pulled her glasses off and rubbed her face, sniffling through one more deep breath before resolution set itself around her shoulders.

“Alex,” easily Kara stood, her Aunt following which resulted in both Alex and Winn tracking Astra's unexpectedly taller frame up.

“Ohmygod.” Was her initial whimper of a response before Alex seemed to realize she actually spoke.

“Tell us how we’re all getting out of here.” Kara's gaze passed over the other three, settling on Winn as she hoped her statement conveyed that he was just as worthy of saving as her Aunt. 

Astra kept constant contact with her niece, with a touch or the slight weight of her frame against Kara's own while Alex looked at the three of them, mind already turning options over in her mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly shorter than other chapters but I felt this moment needed no other distractions from it. 
> 
> Astra/Kara convo translation:
> 
> **”You really call her Brave One?
> 
> **Yes, Little One.


	20. Vantage Points

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza and Jeremiah Danvers find themselves on the other end of an offer they're not sure they can refuse while Kara faces her first day back as Carter's nanny with an extra surprise from Cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long one this

Jeremiah glanced to his wife, already clutching her hand beneath the table.  They had both been escorted to this back office, which appeared more like an interrogation room in its sterility.  They had been offered coffee, soda, water and even lunch but had declined all but the water in order to get down to business.  

A division of the government did not just request your presence, grant practically unheard of security clearances and then personally abscond with you to some unknown facility in a private jet for a business lunch. Their trepidation concerning all of it had only escalated when this Hank Henshaw, Director of the current facility, had laid out pictures of a damaged Kryptonian pod he stated he had in a hangar on premises and that was part of the reason for bringing them.  The full weight of the situation hit the Danvers’ like a ten ton bomb when he slid a candid photograph of Kara getting into some luxury sedan somewhere within downtown National City and stated that was the other reason.

It had been Eliza who nearly threw her chair at him, however rational and unassuming the biology professor appeared, she put a grizzly bear to shame.  Jeremiah had subdued her but only with his own bravado.  Offering so much as to make some kind of trade of service of himself in exchange for leaving Kara alone.  

They had been calmed down enough by Henshaw's appreciative but declined acceptance of the said offer to at least sit back down and hear him out before laying out a barrage of questions of their own to him.  

The three of them had been sitting in contemplative silence for the past few minutes since until Eliza drew a deep breath.

“How, how do we know this isn’t some elaborate plan to ..to…” Eliza couldn’t even finish the statement.

“I assure you, your-”

“Daughter” Jeremiah said defiantly, flexing back with his wife’s grip on his hand as eyes trailed Henshaw’s frame.  “Kara is our daughter.  Do you have children, Mr. Henshaw?”

Hank drew in a slow breath, his weight pressing into the chair soundly as he surveyed the couple ahead of him.  “I did.”  He revealed, knowing that they would all need to feel each other out with small branches of trust.

“Then you understand.”  Eliza finished, despite the pools of emotion in her eyes, the ferocity of a mother, particularly this one, was nothing to snub one’s nose at.

“I need, both of you, and perhaps, with time, the rest of your family, to realize your daughter is going to need help.  She’s going to need resources and allies and even back up.  Maybe not with something tangible, like a robbery or a bomb or a cat stuck in a tree but with the nations of this world, the military, those governing elements that will refuse to cooperate or understand.  THose that will see her as a threat, or an invasion and radicals that we have no hope of controlling.  Those that will allow seeds of fear and doubt to grow not only in themselves, but serve no other purpose than to be the agents of allochory to those ideas if it means controlling or even eradicating your daughter.”

The implication of their family by extension was not lost on either Danvers’ as they looked to one another then back to Henshaw. There had always been the constant thread in the back of not only their minds but the Kent’s as well, that someone or someone’s would come for their children.  Especially after Kara had returned from her own journeys of discovery a few years ago. They should have made stronger contingency plans, done more than just hid away Kara and Clark’s origins.

They had both worked for varied government projects over the years, and very often when breakthroughs or discoveries were made, inevitably they would be taken or hidden or shifted from civilian contract to military and rarely under the banner of benevolence.  

It was what made Eliza hesitate now, she had discovered plenty in her time as a biologist, especially concerning virus’.  Jeremiah was in the same mindset, less than half of what he did while contracting for NASA made it beyond the rooms he was in. Far less actually made it into the public eye. Even now it was a very real possibility he, nor his wife, would be allowed to take a step outside of this room once this was all concluded.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Eliza said without waver, leveling her gaze on Henshaw.

The man under scrutiny let out another deep exhale as he stretched his hands flat on the table.  There was a flicker of red around his body, a construct of atmospheric particles interacting with his molecular transition until he relaxed into himself.

Jeremiah sat dumbstruck, the lattice of his wife’s fingers slipping from his own, her own curiosity getting the better of her as she reached out for the near giant stretch of the man’s now emerald fingers.  She barely touched the warmth of his skin before curling her fingers away and offering a quiet apology.

“May I?”  

Hank opened his eyes, the faintest of smirks settling into his countenance as he turned the designated hand over and laid it back on the table.  Eliza’s colder fingertips were against his palm a second after, while Jeremiah sat and observed.  Hank curled his fingers up, letting their digits catch until his skin shimmered red again and her grip phased right through his own.

“You’re a Martian.” Jeremiah breathed as his wife wove her fingers through the static of sensation that was Hank’s incorporeal digits until he caught them again.  

“My name is J’onn J’onzz, The Last Son of Mars.”

“The polyphasic atmospheric discharge. I saw something like it before, one of the classified rover mission details.  They thought it was some kind of bioluminescence or particle displacement due to electrical discharge from the planet against the shielding of the Rover itself.”

It was J’onn’s turn to look somewhat surprised.  His gaze intensifying as it settled upon Jeremiah, who almost seemed to read his mind when he gave a small head shake.  

“Nothing living, it was particle displacement, a disruption, static-charged by the Rover’s electromagnetic fields. But it was unmistakable as biomatter when further analysis was done on samples gathered.”

J’onn seemed to understand, it was a much nicer way of putting it than we ran over the bones of your fallen people. Although it provided little to no comfort just the same.  Surprise pulled at him again, his focus turning immediately to Eliza who gripped his hand tightly in a show of compassion.

He tipped his head at her then, the pair of them sharing some unspoken revelation before he actually squeezed back.

“This is why I, we, need your daughter.”

“We?!” Eliza blurted, looking to her husband before J’onn raised his free hand to still any further interruption.

“She looks human, was raised with that understanding. What it is to be human despite being extraordinary.  Given recent events, I believe she is the one who saved one of my agents, and if that was her first try at being something of a hero, I don’t honestly see her stopping there. This facility, this organization is a foundation for something that can benefit all of us, and at a minimum serve as a kind of beacon, to humans and to aliens.”  J’onn shifted back to his human state, his grip never releasing Eliza’s own during the transition.

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope. Your daughter, is the embodiment of that hope, at least that is my intention and that of my colleagues.”

“That shape-shifting stint of yours was a viable enough answer, no need to go quoting Bernard Williams.”  

Hank actually smiled, glancing between the two as Eliza finally released her hold and settled back completely within her chair.  Jeremiah let out his own breath of a laugh, giving a small series of nods while his brain worked itself into overdrive.

“What’s the contingency?”  He asked, pulling the mood of the room back down to a more grounded perception.

“Of?”

“This is a government run facility, funded and operated by a menagerie of government employees and contracted civilians.” Eliza finished, her implication not lost on the man

“And other aliens.” Hank asserted before crossing his arms over his chest. “There are, elements in place, should the need arise, which I am certain at some point it will.  However near or far that point is, those of us already here have plenty to lose, and at the risk of sounding like a rogue agency, I promise the D.E.O., it’s operations, informations, everyone and everything will not allow tyranny and prejudice to take it away.  Earth is our home too.”

 

**\-------**

 

Kara sighed, turning over in the mirror a bit to check the fourth outfit she had changed into only to have Alex come up behind her and wrap her arms around her sister’s shoulders.  

“I don’t understand why you’re so nervous.”  Alex offered gently, setting her chin on the curve of muscle she found until she felt Kara relax into her.  “It’s not like you’re being left to wrangle a very curious and determined alien and her frighteningly intelligent human who may or may not be wanted by the government while trying to finish a medical degree..”

Kara let out a groan. “Seriously,” twisting in her sister's arms and grabbing her by the biceps.  “Alex you’re killing me.”  

Alex chuckled, reaching up for her sister’s features before pulling their foreheads together.  As reluctant as Kara had been prior to share so much of her heritage with her human family, since they had collectively rescued Astra and Winn, she had finally seemed to assuage a greater portion of her guilt of surviving and abandonment into something else.  

Something that she was working on with her Aunt Astra and Alex. The latter of whom had finally shone a light on the truth that the world as Kara had tried to rebuild it, was not going to just end.  Not without one hell of a fight anyway. That no matter what choices Kara made, here or there, Alex was always going to be there, even at times when Kara couldn’t be.  

Granted, this progress had all stemmed from a rather heated argument between Kara and Astra a few days after their rescue that had flooded their apartment with Kryptonian sentiments slung between the two women that even Winn didn’t want to repeat.

_Astra wanted action and retaliation, to fight the honorable fight owed her.  To put up a hard lined front against people like Lillian Luthor and the governments she belonged to for their dishonorable actions.  Kara of course wanted order, control, small steps that would root out those elements while preserving the better angels of human nature.  That people like Lillian were just a minuscule element and they would indeed take care of her but in the right way._

_Astra saw their abilities as a superiority, a kind of panacea for not only those small issues as Kara put them but for the world as a whole.  Kara had sort of snapped then, spouting about vanity and hubris and despite all the odds Astra had learned so little, just like her own parents._

_Alex had stepped in when the pair almost seemed to want to come to blows, Winn rushing to her aid as a kind of human grounding rod for Astra while Alex had been one for her sister.  It was all Alex could think to do to shut either of them up, having seen Astra and Kara exhibit the behavior with one another almost every morning since they had brought her to their apartment._

_Kara had gone to her knees from the action, tears springing to life and tracing her cheeks while Alex’s unprotected emotions rebounded through her synapsis’ unchecked.  It had taken Astra’s intervention to rouse Kara back to a much more stabilized state while Winn had rushed to Alex._

_“I told you… “ Kara stated after a long series of moments through the pounding of her skull, holding Astra’s head in her hands a little longer before she felt close to normal again._

_Astra had laughed gently, “Now you know why the name.” The ire dissipating from her before she finally released her niece._

_“I knew that before you gave it to her.” Kara rubbed her temples briefly, the pair still speaking in their native tongue._

_It was a constant occurrence, for Kara a way to reconnect to parts of herself beyond the artificial construct of the fortress in the North. For Astra, it was just as natural as breathing.  Winn understood them like it was his own language and helped translate to Alex when she didn't quite register what was being said._

_“We will do it your way," Astra stated, "the right way.”_

_Kara nodded gently, wrapping her Aunt into a fierce hug.  When they had parted, Astra had turned her gaze towards Alex and Winn.  Kara suddenly aware that if she had been affected in such an intense manner Alex was probably worse off.  She had never attempted the Aovehm Nahv Zhehiod** with Alex or any other human really, for genuine fear of wrecking their mind or causing complete emotional disassociation for either involved._

_“But first…”  Astra had released Kara a second after, watching her hoist Alex up and hug her tight enough to choke the life from her._

_“I'm okay…” Alex responded into her sister's shoulder despite her wavering balance. “I feel like I want to punch the moon and like I just rode the highest rollercoaster in the world but I’m ok.”_

_Winn could only laugh as Astra ruffled his hair before pulling them all into a great hug._

_"We will teach you Brave One, to have more finesse than a battering ram. Despite the foreseeable challenge."_

_From there they had forged a kind of unexpected little family all their own._

Kara let her hands thread through Alex’s hair, taking in a slow deep breath as she allowed Alex’s calming and somehow organized emotions to filter through the two of them. Even if Alex didn’t realize it, Kara heard the ‘I love you’ drift on the edge of those emotions until she flexed her fingertips gently.  

Alex knew that was her signal, and while she was nowhere near the means or methods of Astra or Kara in whatever it was they were doing, it was enough.  She let go and tipped her head back, waiting for Kara before she spoke again.

“Listen, it’s no different than before,” Alex assured

Kara made an incredulous face, eyeing her sister until Alex kind of snortled causing Kara to sigh and shake her head.

“Alright, ok, I’m sorry things are… a little tense and different and-”

“I have an office,” Kara stated leaving Alex to eye her sibling a minute.

“Wait what?”

“An office… she.. In the time.”  Kara let out another exasperated breath at herself before glancing down to her shirt again.  “I thought it was going to be like before at her place when I started back.”

“Right… but..”

“But with Adelaide needing a sitter only two days out of the week and everything that’s happened with you and Ca.. Ms.Grant’s husband.”

“The asshole.”

“Alex.”

“Well he is, but I’m not really following Kara.  The Queen of National City, who has hired you to babysit for her, who’s driver has also hired you for the same reason is giving you an office and, and this is ?”

“Queen of what?”

“I saw it in a headline the other day. You’re deflecting. Spit it out already.”

“There’s an entire space, in the tallest building in National City just for me.. Well for me and Carter and Addie but..”

“What?  She’s on a whole other level now Kara and as comfortable as it was, visually it’s probably not great to have the sister of this delinquent who kind of ousted, at least to prominent individuals in this city, their infidelities and marital problems, also watching their kid, in their house while they’re getting a very public divorce.”

Kara let out a slow breath, taking Alex’s words into consideration.

“She’s going to be in the car every time.”

Alex raised a brow, that image throwing the optics angle out of balance a little bit.

“Well, not, maybe not every time but-”

“You’re worried about being in the car with her?”

Kara’s mouth set into a thin line and Alex let out a sympathetic chuckle.

“This is about … _that_ night… and the couple times she’s shown up here.. Isn’t it?”

When Kara didn’t answer Alex reached out and hugged her sister to her with a small ‘oof’.  

“If it’s too much, find another way Kara. She’d probably appreciate it, if I were to guess anything about her.”

“Alexandra where are the stasis kept animal proteins?”

Kara couldn’t help but laugh as she and her sister separated, looking over her shoulder towards the main room of the apartment curiously.

“She means frozen hamburgers… I think. Maybe bacon...”  

“Alexan-”

“My god.. It’s Alex, please, they’re .. I’m coming.” Alex hugged her sister one more time. “You got this.”

“I am your deity?”

“What no, it's an expression.”

Kara could hear Winn in the background laughing heartily at the bilingual conversation between the two women.

“It is confusing.”

Kara looked heavenward when she was alone in her room again, letting out another little groan.

 

**\-------**

 

“Mommy pretty,” Carter stated as Cat picked him up, making sure he was bundled appropriately given the cold front that had slipped in overnight into the city. She knew the car would be warm regardless but wanted to make sure he was well insulated.

“Thank you baby. And you are very handsome today.”  She pulled his little hood up, balancing him on her hip as she nabbed her purse and keys just as her phone went off.  Austin was at the door as soon as she opened it, their silent exchange of smiles genuine as he waited for her to lock up before leading her to the car and stowing Carter's things in the trunk.  He then helped Carter into the car seat installed for him with his mother before heading towards their next destination.

Austin couldn’t help notice Cat’s growing apprehension as they drove through the city.  Most anyone else would overlook it, the slight bounce of her foot against the interior of the door.  The occasional shift of her body in the seat, but the curl of her fingertips through her own hair as they turned down Kara’s street was a dead give away. That and the fact that Cat had actually been holding her breath the minute he started to slow the car to a halt.

“Why stahp?” Carter asked, looking up from his toys to his mom.

“Surprise for you.” Cat whispered before Carter looked out the window, his little mind instantly recognizing Kara’s apartment building.  Even if the last time he had been here was around Christmas.

“MAMA!” He shouted loud enough to make both adults wince, his feet kicking about and dinosaurs forgotten as he struggled to lean forward and get a better view out the window.  His outcry actually made Kara stop, having easily heard it from the first floor landing inside her apartment building.  

She swallowed heavily, letting out a slow breath as the instant burst of emotions from that little outcry raced through her body like an avalanche.  After another series of heartbeats, she lifted the lids from each cup she had in the carrier, using her heat vision to warm them back to a proper temperature before setting her shoulders and edging out of her building.

Cat had one arm wrapped around her waist, the other propped against her forearm as she hid the lower half of her features with her hand, watching Carters antics from his seat as soon as Kara appeared.  She tried hard to remain impassive, knowing she wasn’t the only adult in the car but her heart had other intentions.  It was currently drumming away at an ever-accelerating pace as she watched the other woman make her way to the waiting car.

How in the world she was going to do this day in and out was anyone’s guess. Why she thought it was the better of any other idea she could have possibly had concerning Kara’s transportation to CatCo’s headquarters was also beyond her comprehension, and somewhere she told herself to write a memo to herself about that.

Cat swore she heard Austin chuckle just as he got out, her gaze following him around the car as he opened the front passenger door for Kara.   

“Good Morning Ms. Grant.”

Cat felt her chest tighten, so they were back to that again.  While it was probably for the best, though it still sent a tirade of emotions swirling around her torso as a result.  

“Kiera.”  The name caused Kara to look up sharply, gaze leveling on Cat’s who had the sense to look minutely apologetic before her attention was stolen away by her son.

“MAMAMAMAMAAASAURUS!”  

“Carter, inside voice baby.”

“Kara.”  She stated pointedly at Cat, even if she was correcting the other Grant in the backseat before looking over the headrest at the little guy. “And good morning Carter.”

“Back ‘ere, peas, back here.” Carter grabbed at the air, kicking his feet for emphasis.

Kara glanced at Cat then back to the little boy again.  “Oh buddy no, later, okay, Kara’s gotta sit up here.”

“No...miss you bad.. Want you here.” He huffed and actually started to pout, clearly threatening to cry with such a visual emphasis on its inevitability that Cat uncrossed her legs and reached for her own door handle.

“Stop.”  Kara’s voice was a little sharp and it had its intended effect.  Both Cat and her son halted, although Kara’s attention was purposefully leveled on Carter who looked up at her with a deep frown only a three-year-old could pull off and still manage to look cute.

“Your Mommy was here first.” She slid into the seat regardless, letting Austin close the door as she then leaned across the console and around the edge of her seat. “She will always be here first, and we’re going to have all day, but right now I need you back there otherwise I’m gonna..” She reached back with lightning reflexes, fingertips tickling over Carter’s tummy and just under his chin until his laughter bounced off the cars interior. “Get you til you can’t breathe!”

Carter immediately withdrew his feet, hands pushing hers away as best he could through his giggle fitted protest until she stopped.

“Now, as soon as we start moving I have to turn around, you’ll be safe...maybe..”

“No maybe about it,” Cat interjected causing both Kara and Carter to look at her, each with their own smiles on their faces for entirely different reasons.

“Mommy wull save me!”  

Cat nodded emphatically to him. “Always.”

Kara made an amused sound before clearing her throat and glancing away, gingerly removing one of the cups from the tray she realized she was still holding and offered it to Cat.

Cat rose an eyebrow at her before taking the offered cup, their respective fingers lingering in their joint hold for another moment before Cat gave a quiet thank you.  

“Welcome.” Kara offered with a half smile before turning back to face forward.  

Austin secured his seatbelt, Kara following suit before she set his designated cup into the holder beside him, leaving her with her own to wrap her hands around so they wouldn’t wander aimless and free into the realm of fidgeting.

Cat stayed silent the rest of the drive, surprised at her enjoyment of the coffee Kara had provided her.  Although she honestly shouldn’t have been when she let herself think about it deep down, but she refused to let herself think about it.  At least right now.

Kara stepped out with Austin once they had reached their destination, where he opened Cat’s door, she took care of Carter.  Taking his bag from the trunk and easing him onto her hip where he wrapped his arms around her neck.

Cat thanked the man, knowing Adelaide would join them sometime in the afternoon before striding for the building.  Kara was right on her heels, occupied with Carter but not so much as to fall behind or get lost.  Or miss the fact that despite Cat’s consistent pace, she managed to get Kara up beside her so that they were shoulder to shoulder as they walked through the lobby and to her private elevator.

Cat stood dead center in the car, while Kara was gently undoing the layers surrounding Carter’s frame knowing he was plenty warm against her.  Cat took the opportunity to observe the pair, watching Carter point out small elements of each article Kara undid and how gentle she was with him.  Her heart felt heavy as she watched her son, who by this point in their journey to work over the past month was reserved and silent until they were behind the closed quarters of her office.

His expression was unguarded, completely open and available to Kara who paid him equal attention.  It was a rare moment, not only for her son but of the other woman.  Somewhere deep down Cat knew this without falter.  Tension and nervousness fell away, her eyes were brighter and the worried lines Cat hadn’t recalled the woman having before melted completely.  

Kara knew Cat was watching her, the heat of the other woman’s gaze burning its way across the back of her neck.  She kept her focus on Carter, letting the little boy calm her nerves and serve as a kind of barrier to emotions she knew would betray her if she dared to look up at his mother.

Kara laughed softly as Carter gabbed about something inconsequential before telling her how he had missed her so.  A determined seriousness took hold of his features then as he used Kara’s arm for leverage to push himself higher.  His little hands were on her face, holding her still as he took a moment to stare at her, almost as if making sure she knew the depths of truth to his statement.

The two of them remained like that for another series of floors before Kara gave a single nod.  “Me too buddy. Me too.”  She dared then, feeling the vice in her chest tighten ten fold as she lifted her eyes to Cat who actually held her gaze. “I missed you so much.”

Cat’s breath caught, fingers curling tighter around the handles of her purse and just as she remembered how to breathe the elevator signaled that they had arrived at their floor.  Carter mimicked the sound, causing Kara to blink and look back down at him giving him a full smile as she bing’ed back at him.

The door opened a second later and Cat was already moving, Kara caught up easily but hung back as she watched the machine that was CatCo come to life around her.  She must’ve been handed ten different articles, conversed with three people in depth about some kind of deadline, got updates on news around the world before someone, presumably her assistant, said there was no forward progress on her bounty.

That had made Kara stop short, making Carter giggle in her stumble and as a result halted the immediate area around Cat herself. A few people chanced a look over the edge of cubicles, staring not at their boss but Kara and Carter.  Even Cat’s assistant had halted, a small stack of papers intended for the CEO lingering between the two women.  

Kara felt Carter stiffen abruptly, his grip on her jacket tightening while her arms wrapped around him comfortingly.  She whispered something for his ears only and he nodded, chancing another glance around at all the people looking at him before huffing and giving a small shimmy of his shoulders.  

Cat had to hold back her prideful expression as she watched her son ease his hold around Kara a bit and instead set one hand around her shoulder and look right back at those watching him.  Kara kept her own smile in check as she tipped her chin up and glanced around with him.

Hiding the expression of her amusement behind the act of moistening her lips Cat shifted her focus to her office upon seeing movement there, raising an eyebrow before looking back to her assistant.  

“Typically, I’d prefer to be warned before walking into something that's going to unsettle my morning”  Cat scanned over the pair in her office one more time. “Especially concerning an officer and a gentleman.”

“I..I’m sorry Ms.Grant, they arrived with this.”  The small handful of notices and mail were offered up which Cat snatched away, skimming over the note.

 _“They’re on loan. Consider it a welcoming gift or something. - Lois”_  
  
Cat’s silent response was one of exasperation.

“Would you like me to show…?"

“Kara.”  The woman in question offered when Cat’s assistant looked at her for some kind of aid before reaching out to shake Karen's hand.

“Yes, Kara the-”

“No.” Cat interrupted much to the surprise of those around them. “Show those other two a seat, and get them some coffee or something.”  Cat handed over her purse and coat, “Once you set these down.”

“Yes m-Ms.Grant”

“This way.” Cat gestured with one finger at Kara, leaving half the room to follow her across the floor with inquisitive looks as she led the woman holding her son through the main aisle of CatCo’s bullpen. Turning right down another pathway, she lead them towards a set of frosted glass doors, the only clear portions of the glass belonged to the logo Cat had adopted for her company.  With another uncharacteristic show Cat pushed the door aside, holding it open for Kara and her son.  

Kara managed about four steps inside before stopping dead in her tracks.  This “office” was practically the size of her apartment.  With nearly the same amenities by the look of it. What it lacked in depth it made up for in width and window space.  It ran along a good quarter of the floor they were on, following the outer contours of the building and what wall space there was, begged for Kara to fill.

To her immediate right was a sort of living room play area set up, hidden from view of the main bullpen and cubicle spaces. Two of the walls there were made up almost entirely of windows, one of which gave an unobstructed view of Cat’s office balcony.  Which would mean Cat could look on them at any given moment without hindrance.   

In the far corner was a small kitchenette, complete with a half sink, stove and small refrigerator.  The bracketing walls lined with modern cabinets already filled, as far as Kara could see, through the frosted glass doors there. The long wall, which again was all window, gave a panoramic view of the city. Each pane was sequestered from any access Carter could even hope to get at with other varied bouts of furniture and cabinets that no doubt held anything Kara could possibly need for him or herself throughout the day.

Kara bounced Carter gently, knowing Cat was behind her as she glanced to the left, seeing a sliding door leading out to a balcony. The windows that would have given anyone inside the main floor an unobscured view out, were hidden behind a heavy frosted etching that secreted it away.  She stepped closer to that area first, glancing out and taking inventory of the less than office building appropriate furnishings.  

Cat couldn’t help the ghost of a smirk that touched her lips as Kara gravitated towards the balcony, arms crossing over her chest as she stepped after the woman.  

“You can go outside.”  She offered, her tone had shifted from the executive authority she had the moment the elevator doors opened to something close to inviting.

Kara turned with Carter, who was just as in awe with the space. “I.. is it alright for, I mean I wouldn’t want this little guy to-”

“It’s been taken care of.  The childproofing that is.  Although with you, I know he couldn’t be safer.”

“Mama down..” Carter tugged gently causing Kara to look at him before letting him slide down and onto the ground.

He hugged her legs absently as she corrected him quietly, before heading to his mother, beckoning her down.  It was her turn to break Kara’s stare as Cat knelt down to her son, tipping her head gently as he stepped up and started to whisper into her ear.  

Kara watched the pair of them curiously, first Carter and his secretive antics then back to his mother who had turned her gaze back to Kara in the time she hadn’t been paying attention. Where she could have easily overheard him, instead all she heard was the thundering of her own heartbeat. Kara felt the red threatening to spill past the line of her shirt and color her cheeks as she held Cat’s gaze while Carter continued to speak to her.

“Pomis?”

Kara swallowed thickly and turned back to the balcony door, but instead of taking in the view she focused on the reflection of Cat.

“I promise. Go find your toys ok? Mommy’s going to talk to Kara a minute.”

“Okay!”  

The sound of his little feet across the carpet did little to relax Kara, especially as she watched Cat’s reflection come to a stand and walk towards her.  

Without hesitation Kara undid the balcony door lock, sliding the door ajar before stepping out onto it, letting the wind rush over her skin and through her hair giving her the sensation as if she were flying for a moment while also serving to cool her down.   She stepped out to its center, fingertips tracing over the cushion of a chair just as she heard the door slide shut behind her.

“I’ve always liked the view out of this window.  Was one of the reasons I fell in love with this building.  That and the private elevator.  But here.”  Cat made her way closer until she was leaning against the high edge surrounding them. “I like looking at the park, all the people.  Mother’s pushing their strollers, kids playing.  Wish I had it from my office.”  

Kara chanced a glance at the other woman, confident, self assured, hands closed around one another where they hung over the edge, and not a care in the world.  At least outwardly.  Kara could hear the woman’s heart pounding away, and her breathing quicken despite her even-keeled tone.  

“I… I don’t even know what to say,”  Kara said honestly, turning her attention back out over the city, the new vantage pulling at her heartstrings as images of her home back on Krypton flashed into her mind’s eye. A kind of desperation filled her then, and the need to confess to Cat exactly who she was and where she came from and how this view, this moment, this gift really made her feel all of a sudden.

As she took a breath and turned to regard Cat the balcony door slid open. Karen apologized for interrupting but the two waiting in Cat’s office were getting antsy, especially the Army officer.

Cat straightened away in an instant, her demeanor turning in a flash.  “It wasn’t my idea that they throw the entire day off Kaitlyn, they’ve waited this long they can wait a few more. Get Snapper, tell him he has the nine am and not to leave anything out in our new meeting at ten.”

“Yes, Ms.Grant.”  Karen was gone in a flutter leaving the two women alone once more.  

“The view....” Kara finally offered.  “Is one of the most beautiful I’ve had in a while.”  

Cat’s back was still to her, her steps having carried her back to the sliding door only to have paused when Kara had started to speak once more.  Easily seeing Kara’s reflection in the glass looking at her.  She felt her chest tighten enough to break a rib as she reached for the handle, pushing the door aside for fear of seeing Kara’s reaction to her own brewing statement.

“I have to say, part of the view I have now, has been significantly improved.” Kara looked at her on the edge of surprise, even though Cat’s back remained to her.  “If you or Carter need anything, Karen’s set to line two.”  And like that she was headed towards her own office.

Kara swallowed thickly, feeling light-headed and breathless and utterly gobsmacked as to what had just happened.  “...Who’s on line one?” She whispered to herself before Carter pulled her attention as he appeared in the doorway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Aovehm Nahv Zhehiod means Touch of Life


	21. As The World Falls Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rising threat of the Luthor's forces Kara to reveal who and what she truely is when Cat is put in grave danger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then... there was THAT scene... fair warning, we're in for a bumpy ride near the end of this. 
> 
> It's another long chapter, bout twice as long as average but I couldn't bring myself to break it up...
> 
> Remember to breathe.

Once Sara’s day at the museum ended, so did Adelaide’s at CatCo with Kara and Carter. Instead of keeping the two of them there like Kara had expected, what with Austin being fully capable of taking his daughter home on his own, Cat told her to ride with the girl and take Carter home until she herself could make it there. Assuring Kara that she just needed to tie up a few loose ends left undone from her day.

Four hours later, with Carter already in bed asleep and Kara left alone to curl up on the couch with a book from the shelves outlining the living room, Cat made her way into her home. Kara stood from her place on the couch, watching the woman try to ease out of her CEO persona with the act of shedding her jacket only to get caught up in it instead. Without prompt Kara was there, fingers that had served as a placeholder in her book were now enclosing around the thick fur collar and causing Cat to still.

“Relax...” Kara requested in a gentle tone despite the harshness of her voice in the quiet space. Her fingers inched deeper into the thick down, gathering the shoulders of Cat’s coat and drawing the article back up to disentangle where the lining had inverted and confined Cat’s arm.

Cat closed her eyes, bottom lip fitting between her teeth as she felt her coat slip from her shoulders with a tacit consideration she was not anticipating to greet her given the hour. With its removal, she felt abruptly warmer without her jacket on than with it. Another second passed as she opened her eyes, head tipping forward enough to allow her to glance over her shoulder at the other woman.

Kara awarded Cat the faintest of smiles when she turned, coat folded in her grasp against her body before she cleared her throat and twisted away enough to hang it properly in the nearby closet. With that momentary reprieve from Kara's gaze and impossible smile, Cat made her way farther into the house, leaving her bag on a chair as she proceeded to the small bar.

Kara let out a breath, hidden away from Cat’s view once she finished hanging the coat, her hands settling over her solar plexus in an effort to pacify the thrumming there.

“Carter’s asleep," Kara said once she could trust her voice not to break. "Has been for a couple hours. He tried to wait up for you, but I told him you’d be there in the morning.”

Cat let out a low melancholic laugh, and instead of drowning her ice with whiskey, she did so with water before taking a sip and turning around. She set herself on the edge of the bar, glass held precariously in her fingertips as she scrutinized the woman across from her already in motion to gather her things.

“What else did you tell him?”

Kara frowned a bit, hesitant of Cat’s tone as her fingers curled around her own keys from where they had been on the coffee table.

“I don’t… understand the question?”

“What else did you tell him about me, Kara?”

She swallowed visibly, watching Cat swirl the liquid in her glass around a bit before trying to find the right words to articulate her response.

“Th-that you were working very hard for him, that you loved him very much, and that was why you couldn’t leave when we did.”

Cat nodded, still leaving Kara just as confused when she had first asked the question. Kara flexed her hand around her keys as the pair endured the silence for another moment or two until Cat dispatched her drink and set the glass on the bartop. She crossed her arms over her chest, glancing down at her feet a moment.

“I.. didn’t want, for you to have to make excuses,” Cat said thoughtfully, worrying on her bottom lip a bit with her teeth.

“The… They’re not excuses Cat.” Kara defended, lingering where she was near the door. “They’re truths. Maybe not the best ones-”

“They’re better than any other he’s been fed before,” Cat admitted quietly before taking in a deep breath and releasing it deliberately. “I didn’t want to do this with him”

Kara couldn’t stand it any longer, she shoved her keys away into a pocket and crossed the space between the two of them. Her hands were on Cat’s forearms, feeling the viable tension pulling the muscles there as Kara bent down enough to catch the other woman’s eyes.

“You're not doing anything wrong towards Carter and you certainly don’t have to do this to yourself. You’re his whole world Cat, and this amazing little boy, your little boy, somehow understands. He doesn’t need excuses or rationalizations for lies. He just needs you and-.”

Cat pulled her arms free, causing Kara to step back, hands open so as to appear non-threatening, waiting for Cat to look back up at her before giving a quiet apology.

“You should go home.”

Kara held her breath a moment, watching Cat’s aura writhe and spit about her frame before she forced her glasses up properly to obscure her sight of it. “You should stop berating yourself.”

Cat blinked, her chin lifting as she raised an eyebrow at the woman.

“You, you’re so full of guilt and you walk around here with this, this shroud of shame or something. It, honestly Cat it’s heartbreaking. Particularly for your son to see it.”

Cat moved her jaw visibly, muscles flexing along the line there as she brought her hands to the edge of the bar on either side of herself. She studied Kara very carefully, a part of her wanting to be spiteful and lash out.

“Austin will be there in the morning, same time.”

“Cat..”

“Kara. Please.” She held up a hand to stop her from saying anything further. “It’s been a long day, longer than I wanted or planned. Were it not close to midnight I might actually ask you to stay for a drink to discuss all this, but, we both have early mornings.”

Kara let out a breath, giving a small nod after another minute before reluctantly zipping up her jacket, mostly for show and stepping back towards the door. “There’s, food in the fridge, just so you know. Try to get some sleep.”

“Kara?” The named woman turned, hand already on the door as she looked back to Cat. “Make sure you bring that coffee again.” Kara gave the other woman a warm smile, pulling the door open after a nod.

Kara unlocked the door to her apartment, trying to be quiet given the hour. The ride from Cat’s to her place had been silent, and she was grateful Austin had allowed it to be. Cat’s words had carried her home, not just about the coffee but about almost being invited to stay. Coupled with the view that was her office and everything else that had occurred on her first day back to officially working for Cat again made Kara want to shout to Rao in frustration.

With a sigh she slid the door shut, fastening the lock before turning to the main room only to stop dead with a small noise of surprise.

Winn was propped up on the reverse of a chair, Alex was draped over the couch and Astra, well Astra was drifting about three feet off the ground. All of them were in some manner of pajamas, pillows, blankets and what looked like a banquet of food permeating the spaces of tables and her island counter.

“Soooo…?” Alex started, glancing at the other two who looked on in earnest, “How’d it go?”

“I would make an educated assumption and say not as she expected.” Astra deducted before Winn hurled a pillow at the Kryptonian who caught it before it made contact.

“No cheating!” Winn accused.

“I have not.”

“You can see things we can’t about her,” Winn clarified before Alex turned on both of them to shut it.

“We have stickers of the pot and pizza.”

Kara couldn’t help but laugh at her Aunt and shook her head. Dropping her jacket and bag before moving through the apartment at superspeed only to reappear to the others in her pj’s, a plate full of potstickers already in hand.  She got about four of them down, regaling the trio with the moderately uneventful tale about her day set, for the most part, in her office. Until the sharp crackle of static disrupted the mood of the group.

Kara instantly straightened to attention, waiting for an additional response. Winn was the first move when it came, reaching for the scanner he had built, turning up the volume.

“211S... Robbery, silent alarm trip.” Alex stated around a mouthful as Astra settled back to the floor.

“I will go this time. You have been laboring all day.”

“No,” Kara said, stuffing another potsticker into her mouth and heading for her room. “Not yet. I promise you will but not yet.”

“I can help you. Do not forget I was a-”

“General yes, I know, but this is different. This has to be done-”

“Right. Yes Right.”

“And I need you here,” Kara said, stepping back into the room, stretching her shoulders about in her suit. “I need you-”

“I know.” Astra nodded, complete understanding written on her features.

Kara knelt down to Astra who gripped Kara's head in her hands just as their foreheads touched. She tried to convey how proud she was along those threads of emotion they shared. " _I will protect them, above all else. I swear it on Rao."_

Kara nodded their connection apart and without missing a beat made her way to Winn, his genius-level mindset almost immediately settling her nerves as he made sure to focus on one thing, survival.

Alex was last, again Kara heard the love in her thoughts and felt the strength of her convictions which served to temper her. This was not supposed to be fun or exciting or a rush, she was supposed to be about helping people.

Kara flexed her fingers against Alex's head and in a blink she was already at the window, drawing up the portion of her suit concealing the lower half of her features.

“Don’t wait up.” And just like that, Kara was gone.

For the next week or so their pattern repeated. Kara in the morning with coffee and on Friday a box of pastries. When they arrived at CatCo, Cat would go about her day in an instant. While Kara tended to Carter and their daily routines within the confines of their office across the way.

Which recently was filled with multiple meetings from the Army officer, who, after her second day, had come in wearing civilian clothes. Turning heads right along with them.

From what little Kara had been able to gather, this woman was familiar with Cat enough that she was awarded her own office, albeit small and supposedly temporary. While also appearing to have a free pass concerning the coming and going of Cat’s office at any given time. Then again for all Kara knew, she had that same leverage with Cat and her office but never chose to find out one way or another.

Kara had seen them in the times she looked through the windows across the building into Cat’s office and her curiosity was getting the better of her. Which was aided by, what she could only reason with herself as, a kind of jealousy with the pair. She knew she had no right or even reason to be, but it persisted, like a thorn in her side just the same.

“Are you going to get her anything?” Adelaide’s voice burst through Kara’s reverie as she turned to look at the little girl working on her homework.

“What?”

“Miss Cat, are you going to get her anything?”

Kara still looked perplexed, stepping over to the girl and occupying the chair on the opposite side of the desk she was seated at. “Anything for what Addie?”

“For Valentine’s Day.”

Kara almost choked, causing Addie and Carter to look at her in a puzzled way before the younger of the two came to try and pat her on the back as a means of offering help.

**\-------**

Lex sat with a bit of a growl, his mother scarcely phased at her place on the couch nearby, another paper in her grasp as she browsed through the articles there.

“Someone’s feeding her information.” The headline that all other news outlets were citing as their verified source of information on this latest development was the one that laid on his desk now.

“Of course they are. The woman is nothing if not persistent, especially when it comes to personal contacts she can utilize for herself.”

Lex looked over at his mother then, still casually reading the paper.

"I know that tone.”

“As well you should.” Lillian turned the page, skimming over another article relaying that the rate of criminal activity in National City was falling at a near record-breaking pace. Citing some masked figure as the culprit but no one had yet to get a reliable description of the person. Nor could anyone prove with validity that the dropping numbers were the result of this one individual.

Even the quote from one of National City's finest skewed in favor of the ever-vigilant efforts of the police department itself. Of course, this was set beside a picture of four would be thieves tied to the overhang of a 50-foot pole. Clearly not the work of the boys in blue. It would be humorous if there wasn’t an infuriating depth of truth at the heart of it.

“I didn’t leave you with the general news segment just to provoke you Lex, no matter what that tabloid printed under the guise of an actual news outlet is implying concerning me or your corporation. Open it up and read the next article.”

He did as he was told, scanning over the announcement there before sitting back, lingering on the words in front of him before lifting his gaze to his mother as a creeping smile smoothed over his features.

“Didn’t you tell me once?” Lex began, leaving the rest of his inquiry open for his mother to continue with.

Lillian echoed his smile with one of her own, not looking up from her own article. “Yes, they went to college together. Stated at one point that she would be President if I recall or some such foolishness.”

“She was the one who championed against Cadmus isn’t she?”

Lillian nodded, folding the paper over before uncrossing her ankles and getting up, folding the paper one more time before dropping it over CatCo’s latest expansion release.

“Our target is still active. Right there in National City.”

“Let me guess, you have her itinerary and she hasn’t given this interview yet has she?” Lex's mind was already brimming with ideas.

Lillian’s smile widened into a full-on grin. “Like I said, not everyone is under the impression these kinds of creatures are something to just open our doors to.”

“We can deal with both of these little nuisances, perhaps, all three of them. At the very least we can send a message to this quote-unquote Queen of National City if she's actually allowing herself to be called that.”

“One can hope." Lillian glanced up at the darkening sky as if all the answers were held on that horizon.

“If nothing else, we may be able to oust this menace and see if what the news is saying is true and it’s just an elaborate hoax or, what I actually suspect. Something we need to set an example with.”

"Either way,” Lillian let the implication settle between them, “I still have an agent or two in place, they should be able to get more detailed information for us.”

Lex shook his head once over, leaning forward in his seat as he glanced over the articles again. Focusing on CatCo’s declaration of their new periodical publication highlighting their premier issue with an exclusive glimpse into the life of one Secretary of State Olivia Marsden.

“I’m going to need them to do more than just relay information Mother.”

**\-------**

“No. Yes, Olivia, you promised me one interview." Cat shifted her jaw trying to keep her voice light. "Of course, I appreciate you allowing my photographer into your home. James Olsen. He's on loan from Metropolis. Yes, I’ll send you copies to approve once he finishes touching them up.”

Cat glanced across her office window, catching sight of Kara as she spun Carter around only to have Adelaide come to his aid.  Kara collapsed to the ground in mock defeat, holding Carter aloft in the full extension of her arms openly giggling just as much. Addie pounced and tried to, what looked like, tickle Kara into submission. Marsden’s voice pulled her attention a second after and she huffed out a sobering breath.

“Olivia. Olivia, you’ve done so much over the phone, given my reporter's little tidbits here and there, I'm forever grateful. Allow me to repay you that gratitude, let me do this for you the right way. Not rushed and-”

Cat continued to pace inside her office, Olivia was acting as odd as ever. Refusing to come to CatCo as she had promised for the new magazine's first edition due to some kind of security matter she had to manage but stated she would still conduct the interview. But only for as many questions as Cat had ready within the constraints of the next two hours.

“You promised me dinner, drinks full disclosure I don-” Cat let out another sigh, turning pointedly in her office, watching the trio in the office across the way once more. “Yes, I have a helicopter, any agency worth their salt… right now?! Why can't I just send it to retrieve you then… Olivia, I swear if you were anyone else...”

Kara looked up from her place on the floor, having set Carter right a few moments ago before Addie had absconded with him. Cat’s irate tone had caused her to look over in the first place. Now she was watching the woman pace in an ever-increasingly agitated manner before she hung up her phone forcibly and roared for her assistant.

Cat twisted around her desk, grabbing a handful of papers and a notepad only to stop short when she caught Kara looking at her. The pair held each other’s gaze for another moment as Cat mouthed something about being sorry just as her assistant obscured Kara’s view.

“Get the roof clear, make sure that bird or whatever you call it is ready to take off by the time I reach the elevator.”

Cat could not figure out why Olivia was being so hard lined. It was profoundly unlike her and given what she knew through certain contacts of her own, there was hardly anything so pressing as to force this interview into its current absurdity.  But she had a deadline and she'd be damned if she missed it now.

Unless some circumstance of National Security had just arisen but again, it would have to be something so clandestine that she wouldn't already have some kind of news crew in place ready to broadcast. Not only that, but Olivia would hardly be making any time for her if it were the case. Either way, she was going to bring it up with Olivia the second she caught sight of her, no matter how much time it ate into their meeting.

Cat gathered her coat, folding it over her arm as she thrust her notes and other personal items into her purse and rounded her desk. Without a misstep she made her way through the office floor, pushing into the room Kara and the children occupied.

Kara was already waiting for her, while Addie had Carter occupied in the far corner playing with his latest set of dinosaurs.

“C’mere,” Kara stated upon seeing Cat’s disconcerted energy, slipping the coat free from her forearm before Cat knew what happened and held it open for the woman to slip into. Cat stood there a minute, uncertain exactly what to say or do until Kara bounced the coat at her. She appeared to snap out of it then, turning her back to the other woman and slotting her arms into each sleeve.  

“I’ll be back, but if Austin gets here-”

“Take Addie home, then Carter. I know Cat.” Kara responded as she adjusted Cat's collar and straightened the line of her shoulders from behind her.

Cat turned around again, feeling her breath tangle as Kara tugged her a half step closer and fastened a button before she pulled the length straight. She didn't know if it was her annoyance at Olivia or the unexpected invasion of something far more carnal in response to Kara's efforts towards her that encouraged her to action.  She was arranging the lapels of Cat’s coat, drawing the collar in the back up over the nape of her neck, hands smoothing towards her collarbones when Cat snagged Kara's belt, for lack of anything else viable to seize, and pulled her close. Ending Kara's titivating ministrations while also visibly rendering her incapable of respiratory function.

“I _will_ be home before Carter goes to bed.” Cat's tone was palpable, laced with a kind of righteous indignation. Kara nodded minutely, feeling her cheeks flush at their startling nearness. Cat could have just as easily told her to stop fussing over her or batted her hands away or anything else that didn't succeed in making her abdomen flutter or her chest feel like it was going to rupture.

“I’ll… make sure he knows.” Kara licked her lips unconsciously, trying to make an arduous effort not to glance down at the proximity of Cat’s own and failing spectacularly. She felt Cat's fingers flex tighter, provoking her heart to lodge itself someplace in her throat with the increasing compression around her waist.

“Go,” Kara ushered on a shared breath that caused Cat to quaver and just as fast as Cat had accessed the office, she released Kara and was out, bound for the elevator before Kara could even think to say or do anything further.

As demanded, CatCo’s helicopter was already operating and waiting for her. She clutched her jacket closer against the race of the wind due to its rotors. In the wake of the persistent heat still spreading up from across her knuckles as a result of Kara's trembling diaphragm, Cat was immensely grateful for the cold bite of the air serving as a diversion from what she had almost done.  

Or was it what Kara had been willing to allow her to do, or maybe even subconsciously orchestrated, in her own infuriatingly enthralling way? She would have to address it at another time, maybe over the process of trying to unravel the meaning behind perfectly hot coffee and ridiculously wonderful pastries, homemade dinners tucked in her fridge all enveloped in the woman's endless consideration of her son and by extension herself, that started and ended Cat's every damn day now.

Cat chastised herself internally, shoving thoughts of Kara grudgingly aside as the controller waved for her to follow across the roof. What she needed to do was turn her focus on Olivia and this current nonsense that was her pending interview. She would get back to Kara, whether she wanted to or not, when she was done with all this scrambling about. The guiding hand at her back from the member of the ground crew pulled away and opened the door for her, helping her inside as she fastened her lap belt before shutting the thing tight and banging on it twice over.

“You know where I’m going?!”

The pilot gave a thumbs up before running down the final flight check and relaying his destination before he was cleared for take off. With a slight lurch, they were off the ground, rising forward as he accelerated only to send both of them nearly into the windshield.

“Malfunction! Tower? Tower?! I’ve got a malfunction, I can’t get a clear liftoff!”

“Set it down, set it down!”

“What’s going on?!” Cat felt the thing start to pitch, twisting about like a worm on a hook as she tried to brace herself while the helicopter began to thrash and spin dangerously.

“Oh god, I’ve lost stabilizer rotor control! I can’t hold it I can’t-”  
“Set it DOWN!”  
“Call 9-1-1.”

There was a small shower of sparks nearby before the crew yelled louder over the radio trying to get the pilot to contain the issue. Someone barked about a cable before there was another cry to get clear. Cat grasped for anything she could hold onto, feeling her body contort with the abrupt motion as the tail boom swung only to make her feel like she’d been waylaid by a sledgehammer when the boom made contact with the small trafficker control building.

Cat heard the pilot relay his mayday over and over until she was driven into the window when the boom crashed into the small structure again, throwing sparks, twisted metal, and glass everywhere in its destructive furrow. She felt her heart plow into her skull, plunging her into darkness as the helicopter bounced on the unforgiving cement of the roof before rolling her upside down and propelling the pieces of the main rotors and chunks of concrete in all directions. Signaling not only the city below, but more than half the complement of CatCo’s employees as well, to the terrifying ordeal unfolding overhead.

Her body lurched sharply, the lap belt catching her as the pilot was silenced with the ricochet of his head against the interior frame. When she opened her eyes she was pressed firmly against her door and as she blinked the haze away, all she was met with was the view of the street hundreds of feet below her while the ruined blades sputtered to a stop.

Her heart seized as she thought of her son, praying that she wasn’t on his side of the building only to scream when she felt the cabin rock heavily while the sound of twisting metal ground somewhere behind her. Cat closed her eyes to the sudden onslaught of nausea, realizing they were caught on the safety rails and had no idea how long that would last.

Out of terror, or stupidity, she wasn’t sure, she stretched up behind the unconscious pilot, winding her hand around another security strap there before releasing her lap belt with a grunt. If she was lucky she might be able to climb out the other side and grab the building. At the very least she wouldn’t be watching the world sway back and forth while waiting for the rails’ hold to give way.

She climbed up and braced herself on the side edge of her own seat, attempting with her free hand to unlatch the pilot’s door and force it open. She heard the screech of metal rumble around her as her spine became ice cold. Just as she got the other door up the helicopter staggered again, shaking her about and causing her to slip. Her feet smacked against her own door for a split second of false security only to be displaced with emptiness as it burst open. Hands clawed at the seat in a hollow struggle to stop her fall, her palms burning violently against her own lap belt as it skimmed through her grasp until her weight snapped her arms over her head abruptly. Another scream spilled out into the air as she swung about, fighting to hang on to the small square of the metal buckle digging into her skin; serving as the only thing preventing Cat from falling to the street below.

Kara was already at the window the instant she heard the first unnatural sound only to let out a gasp as she saw concrete and other debris rain down. She pressed herself against the glass, looking up as best she could before using her x-ray vision to get a better view of what was transpiring and felt her heart stop.

“Ohgod.”

Addie was already making her way over, curious as ever until Kara whipped around and stopped her, kneeling down to be on her eye level.

“You have to watch Carter.”

“Kara what-”

“Cat, there’s… “ she glanced at the little boy equally focused on her, mindful not to speak too loudly even if his expression relayed to Kara that he already knew something was seriously wrong. The spreading confusion of those in the main portion of the floor serving only to feed Carter's distress and her obligation. “A problem I have to take care of. Understand?”

Addie’s confused curiosity shifted into one of utmost seriousness. “How’re you, she’ll know.. People will see!”

“Adelaide! Listen, just, go on the balcony in a minute, hide what you find and lock the door. If anyone asks, say I went to get food or something okay? And keep yourself and Carter away from the windows!” Kara had already pulled her shirt free of her belt, prying the buttons apart as she stepped onto the balcony. In a blink, there was nothing but a pile of clothes as Kara vaulted off the balcony.

Cat felt her fingers slipping, already noticing the masses beginning to accumulate below when she risked another glimpse down. This was never how she conceived her own death, and try as she might, she couldn’t pull herself up. It wasn’t fair, but when was anything really. Cat gazed heavenward one more time, praying to whoever might listen as her mind stilled to a near inhumane silence when she heard the snap of a metal spring with ultimate clarity.

Her fingers clutched oblivion a heartbeat later, body becoming utterly weightless for a breathless instant until gravity ensnared her, forcing her to flail at the emptiness until her mind registered that she was actually falling. Cat wasn’t even aware she was screaming until it echoed back at her as she rushed past each floor of her building at an ever-quickening velocity.

The crowd on the street below was a mess of commotion and horror as they watched the woman fall and helpless to do anything about it.  Shouts echoed up as emergency personnel tried to usher people back and redirect traffic.  CatCo employees watched in disbelief, both on their own TV screens littered about and first hand through the windows as chaos erupted.  

Adelaide clung to Carter, striving to keep him calm and isolated as she caught the spectacle on one of the screens mounted outside their office. Cat was falling against the backdrop of the building from a camera perspective somewhere on the ground. As the picture zoomed out, it exposed the greater danger of the catastrophe looming with the helicopter that clung to the edge of the roof, buckling under its own gravity and threatening to follow Cat down.

There was a blur of dark blue and a flutter of red against the building, spiraling skyward until it joined with Cat’s falling figure, stalling her descent exponentially only to reverse their trajectory and sending a surge of elated astonishment throughout the onlookers.

“Easy there, I’ve got you.”

Cat jolted, her breath stolen from her, mind reeling as to why she wasn’t dead yet as the words, tangible, spoken words, that the woman holding her had articulated eventually registered.

“You’ve got me? Who’s got you?!” Cat chanced another glimpse downward, seeing the ground becoming smaller and smaller before she instinctively clung to the other woman who had no more than one arm encircled around Cat’s waist. The woman had the audacity to let out a modest chuckle, her other arm raising above the both of them as she flew higher, her partially masked visage tilting back to regard the wreckage directly over them.

Supergirl heard the din of the safety railing breaking apart, her grasp on Cat stiffening protectively just as the helicopter dislodged and began to plummet straight for them. Cat crushed her arms around Supergirl’s neck, body pressing fully against her saviors own as she let out another gasp of shock while the ruined transport raced to meet them.

Without missing a beat Supergirl leaned the two of them aside, clutching the intact landing skid of the helicopter in her free hand, angling it into the correct position and then proceeded to fly both it and Cat continuously upward. There were horn blasts and disjointed sounds of cheering as Cat pulled her eyes from the flying woman to take in the ensemble of her employees crowded against the glass of all floors like Garfield cats to a car window.

People were jumping and celebrating, pointing and even taking photos by the evidence of a flash here or there until they flew over the edge of the building. The remaining ground crew were there, applauding with a few confounded security officers as they signaled the suited woman in. Supergirl looked back at Cat again as she started to descend, offering a small wink her way as their feet touched the ground and the ruined helicopter was eased onto the center of the roof from where it had started.

“The pilot inside needs help!” The crew there sprung to life while Supergirl led herself and Cat out of their way a few steps. “When he's stable, this lady needs a look over.”  Gloved hands were on Cat’s shoulders, making sure she was steady while obscuring their own shaking as adrenaline fallout began to paw at Cat’s frame.  Supergirl looked her over carefully, scanning through Cat's body to check for broken bones or critical internal injuries, sending a small prayer of thankfulness to Rao when she found none.   

Supergirl kept one hand leveled on Cat's shoulder, holding her upright as Cat continued to grip her forearm with enough force to floor most anyone else.  Her free fingers were involved with guiding sweat-soaked strands from Cat's face and neck, curling them behind an ear.  She could see where Cat had been banged around, knew she would be sore and even if the injuries she did have weren't life-threatening, they would still leave a stark reminder in her mind and assuredly Cat's when she allowed herself to process all that had transpired. 

“Are you alright?”

Cat swallowed hard, nodding a few times over as she tried to register something, anything, beyond being overwhelmed at being alive. She scarcely heard the woman behind her mask and with no additional response from herself, Cat was abruptly sheltered with a warm blanket and the space in front of her, where her rescuer had been not a blink ago, was now unoccupied.

The length of a red mantle rippled on the fringe of her vision, provoking her to turn and pursue it a step or two away from the first responder trying to corral Cat back towards the other emergency crew members and indoors in order to examine her for injury.  Cat waved the person off like one would an offending fly, struggling to find her voice again.

“WAIT!?”

Supergirl stopped, holding her spine rigid and her shoulders broad as she inclined her head first, despite knowing she needed to leave for a plenitude of reasons, knowing that Cat was safe and would be taken care of by the emergency personnel right behind her… Kara returned to overlook Cat again completely.

“Who… _are_ you?”

Supergirl actually beamed, the expression reaching her eyes even if her mask covered the majority of it.

“A friend.” She gave Cat another wink, bending down ever so slightly and taking off into the air. She was nearly twenty feet higher before she stared back down at the other woman and waved. “Bye.”

Cat stood a minute longer, waving like an automaton until her hand hung at her side. “Bye..” she murmured wistfully before promptly relinquishing consciousness. The first responder a few steps away rushed forward, catching the prone woman's body in order to keep her from crashing into the pavement as they gave out another shout for assistance.


	22. Unsteady

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world reacts to a new kind of hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [This mix is hella inspiring... I know it's overused but still, just layin' it out there. ](http://youtubeonrepeat.com/watch/?v=lHNut7qwAfA) 
> 
>  
> 
> FAIR WARNING there is a moment here with Lex and Lillian that could be considered a trigger and implies a very inappropriate context element. Just to be aware, no, not going there, not going in depth with it, not even putting a name to it. All I will say is Lex is very fucked in the head, and his skewed mental model maps are a direct result.

 “SIR WE HAVE CONTACT!” The agent’s bellow across the intercom provoked the whole room to become hushed as the Director glanced up to the pair crawling around the large hangar space housing the partially wrecked Kryptonian pod with some of his other agents on hand.

Without prompt, the three of them were rushing through the D.E.O. facility towards the command dais. Hank was already demanding the readouts to be minimized in favor of the coverage unraveling. 

Jeremiah had his hands around Eliza’s shoulders, the pair of them remaining on the edge of the dais as every news outlet across the city, and even a few national outlets were arranged across the monitors.

Eliza had a hand to her mouth seeing Cat fall only to feel her heart vault and her stomach ground out when she caught sight of Kara. Jeremiah hugged her to him, her sentiments mirrored back at her through him. While there was a portion of him that was exceedingly proud of his daughter, there was another that was utterly terrified for her, and by expansion Clark.  His gaze reared to Hank as he turned to examine the pair of them, his gaze communicating that if this facility and its goals were not as the Danvers’ had been convinced, human or not, there would be hell to pay and Jeremiah would be sure to help facilitate it.

“Henshaw!”  A woman’s voice disrupted the two men, while Eliza continued to watch the futile efforts at news cameras trying to get better perspectives or zoom in to try and clarify her daughter’s distinct traits with limited success.

“Madam Secretary, I knew you were in town but-”

“What are we doing about this?” Olivia Marsden strode across the facility like she owned it, supplying little to no acknowledgment of Jeremiah or Eliza and instead looked to the monitors repeating the heroics and continually hearing Cat Grant’s name alongside each newscast.

“Ma’am?”

“Don’t ma’am me right now Hank, I just got off the phone with that woman’s secretary. The only reason Cat Grant was even on that thing, was because she was rushing out to meet me.”

Hank seemed perplexed and Eliza subsequently tore her eyes away from the monitors to inspect the other woman before glancing towards her husband in a knowing manner.

“Last I was aware, Ms. Grant and I were supposed to have dinner and an interview. I confirmed it with her a few days ago. Her assistant on the other hand, just communicated to me that I had called not more than an hour ago and practically commanded her boss to meet me immediately.” Olivia stated with an almost conspiratorially perturbed tone. 

“What’re you implying?” Hank questioned, setting his hands on his sides.  Eliza let out a breath between them, causing Henshaw and Marsden to turn and stare at her wordless interjection.

“This,” Eliza pointed to the monitors just beyond them. “Was orchestrated. I don’t know how or by who but I know why.”

“How can you even know that for sure?” Jeremiah challenged quietly, noticing Hank nodding in solidarity to his question.

“Cat Grant and I know where the other’s bodies are buried." Olivia provided for a measure of insight into the circumstances and why what she had stated prior would be so uncharacteristic of her in regards to her friend. "I was doing her a favor just as she was doing one for me with this. I would not have called her, demanded her presence or lorded some kind of ultimatum over her. Ever.”

Hank took a breath to respond, only to be cut off by a distinctive trill.

“Incoming secure communication, Metropolis sector. It’s Director Prince.”

The four of them looked at each other, Eliza and Jeremiah had only heard of the co-director in passing from other agents they were working with on the damaged pod. Hank and Olivia shared an expressive look between one another as the Secretary inclined her head towards the two civilians to her right. Hank for his merit gave a solitary nod, causing Marsden to straighten somewhat before he turned from her to address the other Director.

“Diana, I’m here with Secretary Marsden and-”

“I assume you’ve seen the news?” Diana emerged on one of the monitors, looking at Henshaw directly while taking into account those around him. She didn’t look nearly as gratified as she should have been, though that wasn’t without its own reasons. Hank had lied to her, well not specifically lied so much as hidden the truth from her. They would have to address it another time, preferably without the extensive audience they had currently.

“We have a more pressing situation surrounding the incident in National City, Diana. How fast can you get here?” Marsden inserted before anyone else could respond.

“Without causing a worldwide disruption, about an hour, give me two to take care of a few personal matters.”

“Done.”

“Yes, ma’am.” 

With that Diana was off screen and another reel of footage was being presented over the monitors as Marsden glanced to Hank before turning further in order to undeviatingly consider Eliza and Jeremiah. Her gaze strayed over the pair, taking a summary of their badges and the intermittent pull of Eliza’s gaze towards the recurrent heroics surrounding Cat Grant’s rescue being played out.

“You must be proud,” Marsden stated intentionally, observing both of them as they converged on her.

“Meaning?” Jeremiah questioned, squaring his shoulders slightly.

“Of the opportunity to be a part of something like this from so early on.” Marsden allowed, catching the assuaging motion of Eliza's hand curling around her husband's forearm firmly in her periphery.

“Absolutely. Once in a lifetime opportunity that, for civilians anyway.” Eliza answered, the two women sharing a prolonged stare until it was Olivia who offered a considerate smile and glanced elsewhere.

“We can go over the in-depth pleasantries later, for now, I need someone to find out if we can get a transcript of that phone call from CatCo’s offices. Work on containment and observation with the rest. Do not engage.” Henshaw’s timbre was immovable, on the verge of an order before he glanced unambiguously to Jeremiah and Eliza. “You two should get back to work.” He gave no opportunity for them to question any other interpretation for his statement before motioning at Secretary Marsden to precede him towards his office.

 

**\-------**

  
  
Lex and Lillian stood in LexCorp’s executive meeting space, board room windows tinted into obscurity to the outside, the generous flat screen showcasing the heroics out of National City.

“Incredible,” Lex murmured as Lillian dispatched a sidelong glare in his direction. “If any human being were to perpetrate such a fantastic hoax as this, it would have been me.” Lillian actually had the decency to sneer even as he wandered closer to the screen. “It all fits somehow.”

Lillian averted her gaze back to the screen and yet another angle of Cat falling to what would have been her inevitable demise, keeping her senses trained on the near reverential approach of her son ever closer to her proximity. As soon as Lex was close enough to her, she slapped him without so much as a breath of warning.

He clutched his face instantly, grasping the oblong table edge in the room’s center with his other hand to restrain him from going down altogether. When Lex straightened and composed himself, hand dropping away from the sting as he turned back to his Mother for answers, she slapped him again. This time propelling him unceremoniously into a chair.

Furious he grabbed the arms of the furniture with the intention of going after his Mother only to feel his airway throttled off as Lillian's hand twisted around the open collar of his shirt and her thumb drilled into the pressure point underneath his jaw, hindering his intended course of action and alternatively rooted him in agony.

“What were you intending if our little irritant hadn’t bestowed the world with her presence?” Lillian spoke calmly, observing her son endeavor vigorously to wrest himself free of her as she only clenched her fist tighter. “Casualties must be on _their_ hands, not yours, and certainly not family.”

Lex gurgled, his knuckles white as he flailed helplessly only to drown in oxygen once he hauled in a breath, doubling over entirely as he yanked at his shirt to open it further and sputtered in an effort breathe.

“I’ve done you both a favor.” The words scratched their way out of his throat and Lillian threatened closer to which he held up a hand in capitulation. “Aunt Kitty’s vanity project just got the boost it lacked,” he choked again, rubbing his throat and grimacing through the strain of the muscles there. “And you have confirmation of your suspicions, aliens amongst us and all that, Mother.”

Lillian leaned close, arms crossed over her chest, nearly brushing Lex’s nose with her own as she stared him down.

“Amat Victoria Curam, Alexander. There was no preparation in that, you are brilliant but you are hot-headed and quick to action. There is nothing more powerful in this world than the blood that bonds us. Spilling it without cause or demand is dangerous and will be your ruin. Do you understand me?”

Lex scowled at her launching forward and kissing the woman, forcing her to straighten away but not lose her ground as she recoiled. His hands were on either side of her face a second after until her own encased his in remonstrance while he held her gaze before tilting his head like an inquisitive animal.

“I understand perfectly.” He folded his fingers towards his palms, clutching his mother's digits within his knuckles before drawing their hands together and setting a penitent peck on the back of her hand. “I am sorry. I was doing this for you, for us.”

Lillian flexed her jaw at him, her expression disengaged and apathetic as she inclined her chin scrutinizing him like some variety of vermin before extracting her hand away. “Apology not accepted. Get to work on her savior. You know where to find me when you discover something more substantial than 'she isn’t a hoax'.” Lillian stepped around him in absolute dismissal and vacated the boardroom.

 

**\-------**

 

When Alex had yelled, Astra had practically come flying, Winn was quick to chase, full of questions as to why until he witnessed the footage of Cat Grant dropping to her prospective death. Alex spun away, feeling the taller Kryptonian engulf her protectively while Astra virtually roared at Winn in her innate language to explain what was happening. He stammered as best he could while Alex remained solidly fastened, her emotions burrowing into Astra's figure like a jackhammer, prompting her to hold the other woman closer.

“Little One..” Astra uttered incredulously, fingers curling against Alex’s shoulders in her own apprehension of what she was beholding and the consequences she knew would come to realization promptly enough.  Winn hollered and clapped, collapsing onto the sofa from the sudden rush of endorphins and relief. With a tender nudge, Astra implored Alex to look, still wrapped around her in spite of their variation in position. 

The trio watched the ordeal unfold as Winn renewed his cheering, Alex smudged away the emotion painting her cheeks where Astra felt pride overcome her ambivalence. The crest of the House of El was evident enough to her, despite it becoming indistinct across the screen as their rudimentary devices worked to focus and capture the event rather ineffectively.

She recognized parts of the suit Kara wore, knowing she could not have possibly made it with the components ascertained on this planet as another realization seized her bones. Elements of Krypton were here. Not just from the confined resources of escape pods or fragmented remnants of their planet either. Whether deliberate or inadvertent she didn’t know but she would find out, one way or another.

Astra’s fingers sifted through Alex’s hair involuntarily as she saw the footage repeat itself, correspondents and eye-witnesses calling the rescue everything from a deception to a miracle. They were all in far more danger now, even if it hadn’t settled into Winn yet, or Alex whose limbs were secured around her abdomen. Astra was not even sure if she was amply cognizant of how much, and acknowledged, without a doubt, as Kara's actions were shown from another angle, that her niece did not either.

There was one thing to be said for bettering the neighborhoods within their expanse of habitation; modestly, under the sanctuary of twilight and inconsistent human speculation. It was another level entirely in broad daylight with such a grandiose circumstance. Astra knew what Kara was doing was not without intent or honorable purpose. It was the price of exposure she was disquieted with. Having known all too well what lengths one might go to for a cause, and how willing one was to also be compromised in turn.

 

**\-------**

 

Across town Sara stood in her office, along with half the museum staff, all glued to the sight on small televisions or listening to broadcasts over radios and cell phones. She felt her heart stop as she watched the situation unfold, knowing full well her daughter was in that very building. That her husband was nearby if not already there as well, parked on the street crowded with people and falling debris.

No sooner did she have the thought did she see Kara, her breathing increasing exponentially, eyes clouding with emotion as the vision of the woman in the suit Sara had helped design was exposed to the world. She swallowed heavily, feeling the vibration of her phone against her leg as she reached for it, sliding across the screen to answer it and hearing Austin’s voice grounding her to the spot.

“I’m okay.” Tears ran down her cheeks then, still seeming unable to blink as she continued to watch. “She caught her… I saw it, the whole thing Sara....I had no idea.” His own voice was rife with emotion and furthering her own.

“Adelaide.” Sara croaked, fingers clinging to her phone.

“Has to be alright. I’m already headed inside. Adelaide was with her, Kara would never-”

“Get them home, whatever Cat needs, then come get me. I love you.”

Austin breathed heavily into the phone, his own adrenaline rush registering through their connection. “I love you too.”

 

**\-------**

  
“Jonathan!” Martha shouted again, her voice carrying enough for both Kent men to hear this time as Clark had already said his mother was calling after them. Initially, his father had waved it off for at least another minute until they finished changing the tire on the tractor. The horrified surprise in her tone the second time resulted in a whole other means of action from either man.

“Go!” Jonathan commanded, spurring Clark ahead of him in a burst of superspeed while the elder Kent chased after his son’s dust.

“Mom? MOM!?” Clark was in the house in a heartbeat, searching for the culprit behind her outburst, ready to fight or at the very least, smother a fire. Nothing prepared him for what he saw on the living room television.

His mother was shaking slightly, hand over her mouth by the time Jonathan arrived, panting soundly as he hurried into the family room and towards his wife.

“What is it?!” His hands were on her shoulders and upon feeling her tremors wrapped her up from behind, securing the strength of his arms around her hips to keep her steady just as his attention lifted to the television.

_**“-olding onto National City’s recently dubbed “Queen of All Media” Cat Grant with one arm while seemingly catching the falling helicopter with the other before returning both to the rooftop and saving the lives of countless others on the streets below. Some are labelling it a publicity stunt, while others are calling it simply a miracle. Either way, it is an extraordinary sight. We leave the decision up to you, but if I may, from my own first-hand account. This was no stunt. Many are under the assumption this is the same individual that rescued an unidentified woman from a series of explosions due to a ruptured gas main in this same city some scant weeks ago. Being one of those individuals, I’m not sure what, or who this mystery woman is, but I am certain we can only expect more to come.”** _

“She’s a hero,” Clark muttered, as the footage repeated again, wishing he had been there.  A part of him going so far as to wish he had been right alongside his cousin saving the day.

“Get your Uncle on the phone.” Jonathan’s tone held a dangerous lilt to it and reluctantly Clark tore his gaze from the screen looking to his parents who seemed stranded somewhere between awe-inspiring shock and soul numbing terror.

“Dad?”

“I said get your Uncle Jeremiah on the phone, -now-. Don’t stop calling him until he answers.” Jonathan hugged his wife tighter, whispering that everything would be fine. They were alright, they would be safe, that Kara had to know what she was doing and in a way was sacrificing herself for a greater cause that included them unknowingly.

Clark wasn’t sure how to feel for those few moments, hearing his father talk about his cousin’s sacrifices for his greater benefit. He stood in the kitchen, receiver against his ear as the line rung over and over.

“Clark?” Jeremiah’s voice broke through the line with a quiet hesitance.

“Hang on Uncle J,” he turned the mouthpiece aside, “Dad!”

Jonathan kissed his wife’s forehead, reassuring her one more time before muting the tv and heading for the kitchen, ushering Clark to tend to his mother as he observed from the doorway.

Clark stepped over, setting his hand on his mother’s shoulder and giving the muscle there a reassuring squeeze. Her hand was on his in an instant, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she pulled him close to her, leaning into the strength of his side as her gaze continued to flutter between the captions running across and the replay of the events involving Kara.

“Jonathan, what’s going on? Are you all alright?” Jeremiah’s voice was a bit sharper, though the quiet nature of it was still evident.

“Is your television on, son?” Jonathan held nothing back with his tone, eyes lifting back to another, closer, shot of Kara wrapping her boss up and flying skyward.

 

**\-------**

  
Kara was on her knees, one arm around Adelaide who was wrapped around her and Carter, who was wrapped in Kara's other arm and held between the two of them. She felt her phone vibrate, ignoring its rumble until Addie fished it out and held it up for her after answering it.

“Hello?”

“Kara!” Lois’ voice boomed in her ear and her eyes closed because of it.

“Cat's ok. We’re ok.”

“She's not-”

“Answering, I know. Her assistant’s fielding calls, she's still with the paramedics.”

“Is my sister there?”

“Which- your sister? Who?”

“Short, brunette, she's got military clearance, she's been there a few weeks, she should be able to pull Cat away.” The description slid home as Kara realized exactly to who Lois was referring.

“S-she’s assessing the helicopter on the roof.” Kara heard the phone rustle, straining to hear what was happening.

“Kara?” Adam's shaken voice warbled across the phone, burning at the back of Kara's eyes.

“Hey,” she offered gently, feeling Carter perk up and touch her face. “She's, your mom's alright. I promise you. She's still being looked at, otherwise, I'd put her right on.”

“Can I talk to Carter?”

“Hold the phone for Carter,” Kara whispered as Adelaide nodded and instead put the thing on speaker.

“Go ahead.”

“Hey, buddy.” Adam's voice was a few notes stronger and Kara felt heartsick for it.

“Badamsaurus.”

“You gotta be strong for Mommy ok?”

“Okay, brudder. You bees tong too. Wuff you, miss you much.”

“I miss you too little man. We’re uh, we're gonna come see you again soon okay. You just wait, alright?”

Carter okayed just as they all heard Cat’s voice roar through the main area beyond the doors.

“I need to see my son!”

Kara stood just as she burst in, Adelaide still holding on to her and the phone.

“Momma!”  
“Mom!”

Carter and Adam's voices together nearly floored the woman. Kara handed Carter off without hesitation and replaced his weight with Adelaide's as she picked her up. She eased the phone from the girl's grip, placing it on the table.

“Talk to her.” Kara urged Cat’s older son as she edged out of the office only to feel Cat's bandaged hand lash out and surround her bicep. She halted instantly, murmuring gently to Adelaide who rested her head on Kara's shoulder as Cat tried desperately not to fall apart.

Kara looked at the space of the open door she had created in her attempt to exit, as of having pulled back the curtain on a stage, seeing the staring faces and would be onlookers. Her jaw shifted visibly and Addie dug her ear into Kara's shoulder when she heard her pull in a breath.

“Clear the floor!” Kara's thunder of a voice startled half the employees while others shrank back or did what was commanded and vacated the area. She felt Cat's fingers digging into the muscle of her arm even harder while Addie picked up her head to glare at those who had yet to stop gawking “Move, you've all got statements or deadlines or something to make.”

Karen stood near Cats office, phone in hand, flabbergasted at the scene until Snapper rounded a corner, immediately pulling focus and backing Kara's initial statements. Directing various employees to go home, others to get off their asses and to the streets for first-hand accounts and additional witness statements. The two of them shared a look of solidarity with one another before Kara nodded, only to hear the unmistakeable sound of a camera shutter with her acute abilities and cut her eyes to one James Olsen from near the elevators. He pulled back from his view finder, surprise evident on his features and had the sense enough to look shameful before Kara edged back behind the obscurity provided by her offices' frosted glass doors.

“Mom, I love you. I, I told Carter to give you hugs and let know we're coming back soon ok?”. Kara had heard Adam relate, most likely to Lois, that Kara had shouted and that Cat still wasn't responding. Lois tried to assure him everything was going to be alright, especially with Kara there, as she drew closer to the Cat, whose hand still clawed into her arm.

“Mama too tight,” Carter stated despite his own hold on her before she sucked in a deep breath.

Adelaide urged Kara to put her down, running to the other side of a chair and throwing her whole body into moving it. Kara leaned around while still tethered to Cat, grabbed the arm of the chair Adelaide had designated with her free hand, yanking it over easily and guiding Cat to sit in it.

“M'sorry baby.” Cat apologized as Carter relaxed in her lap. Adelaide snagged the phone from the table, bringing it closer as she climbed on to the arm of the chair, putting her own around Cat's shoulders illiciting a small wince to cross the woman's features. 

Kara eased Cat's death grip from her bicep, lacing their fingers together to provide her that anchor to cling to as she drug her own chair up. Free hand supporting Carter's back as Cat pulled Adelaide into a side hug.

“I'm so sorry my prince.” Cat's voice was thick with emotion but unwavering in its intention. “I didn't mean to scare you.”

“ I know Mom. I'm just glad you're ok. You're ok right? Kara said-”

“Sore, I'm sore but I'll be ok. Whatever Kara said she was right.”

“Mamasaurus stong,” Carter added, gingerly holding Cat's face in his small hands before pulling her down and setting their foreheads together. “Wuff you bad Momma, love Angelsaurus too.”

Kara swallowed thickly watching Carter with his mother as Adam continued to say quiet words of his own, both serving to ease Cat's demeanor. Adelaide scooted down further, setting her head on Cats shoulder and looking at Kara knowingly before pulling in a deep breath of her own. Kara flexed her fingers around Cat's own gingerly, feeling the pressure easily returned and when she glanced up from their joined hands Cat was looking directly at her as Carter set his head against the beat of his mother's heart.

For a heartbeat Kara was worried Cat could see through her human veil but merely drew in a deep breath, holding the other woman's gaze until her eyes turned to the phone Adelaide still held as Adam mirrored his brother's sentiments.

“I love you too my prince. Give Lois a hug for me ok?”

“Okay, Mom.”

They all heard the phone change hands as Lois’ voice filtered through the line.

“Had us really worried there.”

“Lois, I..”

“Listen, take that baby home. You're done today. You're the story, you don't need to go farther than that right now." Lois' tone was adamant, Cat did not need to try to use her new endeavor or status as a method for coping right now.  "Kara?”

“Yeah?” Kara swallowed the waver of her voice, feeling Cat's eyes on her again as she focused on the disembodied voice through the phone.

“Make her. Like I know only you can.”

Kara felt her cheeks flush and even Cat couldn't help the phantom of a smile that touched her lips.

“Go take care of our son. I'll call you.” Cat stated quietly.

“Wasn't talking to you.” Lois mused.

“I got it,” Kara stated with a weighted confidence.

“Be good to yourself Kitty.”

“Thank you.”

Adelaide handed the phone back to Kara who stuffed it into her pocket just as the door opened again. Kara's expression darkened with the intrusion enough for Cat to grip her hand tightly to stay calm only to see Kara immediately relax. Adelaide was up in an instant, arms wrapping around her father's neck as he hoisted her up and squeezed the life out of her.

“I have strict orders to take you home,” Austin said after a moment, looking down at Cat. “Sara says no arguments.”

Cat slumped in the chair, all the fight gone from her.

“Karen has your things ready and the car is waiting in the underground lot.”

Kara mouthed a thank you to the man before looking back at Cat.

“I'll get a cab, you go-”

“No,” Cat stated with finality, squeezing Kara's fingers within her own until her knuckles turned white from the force of it. “We’re all going.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Amat victoria curam" is literally "victory loves care" or Victory favors those who take pains / victory loves preparation


	23. The Things One Finds Unexpectedly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara helps Cat recover from the incident at CatCo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long one this...

Kara set her hands on the door of the Grant household, pressing her forehead against it with a heavy exhale. She tilted her head somewhat, listening to Austin just outside in the car, reassuring his daughter that she was just as much a hero as Kara but that they needed to talk with mommy further about how involved she continued to get.

Kara knew deep down she would be talking with the Lorcan’s and the intricacies that her identity might complicate further what with leaving their daughter alone with Carter at CatCo in order to protect him while concurrently protecting Kara's secret. Particularly if something else like what had happened today should reoccur.

She drew in a broader breath, flexing her fingers as she tuned them out, focusing her range to the quiet sounds of Carter babbling at his mother, who had grown more and more withdrawn ever since they had paraded through the woman’s office building like nothing was amiss, bound for home.

In the spaces between then and now she had managed, with a little crafty distraction from Austin and his daughter, to reach her sister and the others in her apartment. She promised she would be home soon enough and that they would all talk once everything with Cat was settled.

Kara pulled her head up when she heard Carter question his mother’s disheartened appearance. Without faltering, she locked the front door soundly and turned, making her way through the house that was virtually second nature to her. She edged her way to Carter’s room, only to find it devoid of either Grant before shifting her senses higher up.

It was a scarcity that she went beyond the second level, even more so than when Cat ventured there while Kara had been in her house prior to now. She slid her hand along the railing, legs impelling her ahead until she discovered them.

Cat was on the floor, as yet unchanged, her clothes still bearing the residues of her ordeal. Her hair was pulled back but still dirtied with oil and what looked like blood, her face was cleansed of dirt but still visibly weathered with her emotions. Carter sat in her lap, fiddling with her fingers despite the dressings, trying to get them to operate around one of his dinosaurs in an effort to play. Kara immediately identified it as the one Carter always said she was and felt her throat constrict as a result.

Kara's approach was gradual and prudent, her legs doubling over themselves as she lowered herself to the ground before scooting forward until her and Cat's knees touched. With a sharp intake of breath, Cat was back, glassy-eyed and confused for a fleeting moment until her fingers ultimately curved around the toy.

“Mamasaurus fix,” Carter asked of her before looking to his mother who sniffled quietly before venturing to look elsewhere in order to compose herself. Kara nodded without correcting him only to reach out and smooth her hand on Cat’s thigh.

Carter decided the limb was a kind of bridge and used its tether to his mother as encouragement to climb into Kara's lap. Cat followed his transition, lifting her gaze to Kara once he appeared to settle. She reached over then, lightly tousling Carter's hair until he stretched up and pulled her away from him by the wrist. Her expression slipped for a second, and Kara began to move to correct him until he took her hand and laid it over Kara's own heart.

“Listen Mommy, wull halp you.”

Kara tensed her jaw, swallowing discreetly without glancing down. Cats hand seemed like cold lead against her, devoid of sentiment and movement. Carter let go gradually like he would when stacking his wooden blocks into a tower and leery of making them fall in his haste.

Cat swallowed laboriously, staring at her hand like it wasn't her own until she felt the unmistakable vitality thundering beneath it. She leveled her hand completely, fingers spreading out with an aching slowness until she swore she was holding the very organ behind the plain of warm muscle. Kara drew in a slow breath, squaring her shoulders just so and easing her body forward into the weight of the other woman's hand.

“I’ve got you”

Cat flinched when she heard it, or thought she heard it, a ripple of a whisper of Kara's voice filtering through her mind until Kara's touch against her leg pulled her focus.

“Let me take him, get him settled.”

“I bees weel quiet”

Cat's tight smile held a ready note of sincerity, her hand slipping away from Kara to touch her son’s cheek.

“You be as loud or quiet as you want my little prince.” She looked up at Kara giving her a faint nod of approval.

“I’ll be right back.” Kara whispered, drawing Carter up with her as she stood, careful not to forget his toys before she padded down the short set of stairs in order to get him settled into his play space.

“Mommy be ok?”

Kara kissed the top of his head, smoothing his hair as she leaned back with a nod.

“You said it kiddo, your Mommy is very strong.”

“Stongest.”

“Exactly,” Kara smiled softly at him. “I’ll be back, think you’ll be okay with that?”

Carter nodded a few times at her, already turning his focus back to his toys as he bounced two of them about.

“Love you buddy.”

“Wuv you too Mama.”

“Kara.”

“Mmmhhmm..”

Kara let out a soft sigh, shaking her head at him before making her way back to Cat. Knowing full well if anything were to happen while she wasn’t near him she would be able to hear. She took the steps two at a time, coming around the upper landing and making her way back to where she had found Cat before.

She lingered in the doorway, tilting her head not only to check on Carter but pinpoint Cat as well when she didn't find her where she had been previously on the floor. Kara heard her heartbeat a short distance away and the rustle of cloth before the woman cursed at herself.

“Cat?” Kara spoke calmly, stepping further into the room as she heard another sniffle of a sound and a small clatter of glass on metal.

Cat closed her eyes hearing Kara’s voice, she could do this. She should be able to do this. She was just stiff, and sore, not useless, not helpless. She tried again to cinch her belt in order to undo it. The efforts against injury to her hands clawing at her nerves like an irritant until lightning lanced around her hips and snatched her breath away again. This was absurd, her own body conspiring against her, her mind relaying flashes from hours prior, reminding her that the strength of her own grasp was not enough to save herself.

“Help.” Cat nearly choked on the word, uncertain if she had even said it. She looked up at herself in the mirror, not recognizing the reflection that greeted her there until the shadow of movement behind her pulled her gaze. Kara was in the doorway of her en-suite, hand wrapped around the frame as she looked at Cat secondhandedly through the mirror. “Please.”

Kara evaluated Cat only when she turned from their reflections to face her directly. Her clothes were a wreck, tarnished from the incident, and seams torn in varied places as a kind of narrative of her ordeal and the detriment it had branded on her physically.

“I know it’s not what you’re-” Cat’s words hesitated as Kara edged beyond the threshold and close enough to touch her. “Here for.”

Kara sought Cat’s eyes in the quiet, leaving Cat to acclimate to her until the tension winding at her shoulders evaporated. Kara waited for another series of heartbeats as they settled into an unspoken understanding within that stare before she eventually nodded, hands raising from her sides and floating near the other woman’s frame.

“Turn,” Kara commanded softly, noticing Cat hesitate in her movements as if questioning whether this was a rational course of action and began to turn back, only to follow through and place her back to the other woman.

Cat felt detached, as if her nerves were discharging through pudding until the warmth of Kara’s fingertips grazed her neckline. Her eyes lifted in a flicker of instinctive response, analyzing the display laid out in the reflection of the mirror from an almost third person perspective.

Kara’s fingers curled around the collar of her suit jacket, guiding it away from her shoulders, thumbs hooked beneath the fabric as her hands traveled downwards to the lapels, drawing them farther apart before sliding the thing down Cat’s arms. Regardless of its state, Kara leaned over and grabbed a hangar, fixing the jacket over it and securing the hook over the nearest catch she could find.

Cat turned as Kara tipped away, and when she returned to their shared place Cat’s bandaged hands were set palm up and wrists presented. Articulate digits undid the buttons of her cuffs, thumbing each apart before the limbs returned to Cat’s sides listlessly. Kara tucked her lower lip within the grip of her teeth delicately, head tilting as her fingers encircled the slim line of Cat’s belt making the other woman waver lightly.

Kara felt Cat’s hand wrap around her bicep again, her hold was steadfast on Cat’s elbow as she paused in order for her equilibrium to recover before squeezing tenderly and relocating her hand to assist its opposite.

Cat glimpsed between them suddenly, registering belatedly what Kara's intentions denoted, lungs swelling in anticipation of the pain she knew was going to come despite Kara’s resolutions to try and spare her from it.

She felt Cat’s fingers contract around her arm, not unlike at the office prior, but rather than cinching the belt against the circle of Cat’s body, Kara curled her fingers around one side of the leather before pulling the tongue, driving the edge of the buckle into the catch of her own hand. Once the prong was close enough she drove her thumb underneath it, achieving two separated ends once more without smothering Cat's wounded hips.

Cat grasped Kara’s forearm in unexpected relief when she felt the pressure yield only to have it substituted with the weight of Kara's eyes on her in an effort to measure her discomfort. With a tilt of her head at their reflections once more, Cat couldn't help but witness the ever increasingly familiar aspect between the two of them. Kara herself refused to look up or over in an attempt to focus on her task, despite catching the reflective movements of the two of them in her periphery. With a slow intake of breath, Kara's hand closed into a fist around the buckle, while the other gently guided Cat in another stolid circle, gingerly drawing the thin leather from the loops of her skirt without jostling her.

Kara set the belt over her own shoulder, hand falling to rest on Cat's mid back to steady her as she found the small metal zipper near the nape of her neck. Cat eased her chin down, feeling the strain in her neck and shoulders, skin rippling to life as air touched her exposed skin. Her own fingers clawed at her shirt front, pulling it free of her waistband until Kara's brushed over them near her hips to pull the line the rest of the way out.

“Breathe." Kara's voice was scalding on her skin as Cat felt the other woman work to collect her shirt line, sliding it up as she nodded, taking in a sobering series of breaths and bracing herself as she started to lift her arms. Kara marked the split in the seams where the sleeves had previously been stitched into the body of the silken material, holding her own breath knowing there was no method to shield Cat from the pain she was going to generate, even if unintentionally.

Cat shut her eyes, teeth fitting around her bottom lip as she pressed back a whimper when Kara brought the article up and over her shoulders. As gently as she could manage, Kara gathered the thin material up farther, unveiling the testimony of Cat’s efforts at survival. The full extent of which was hidden beneath the sheer wrap of Cat's slip.

Once Cat was free of her shirt, Kara’s fingertips strayed to her back as a kind of anchor while discarding the garment through the open doorway. Revealing the expanse of Cat's torso was like unfolding a map marked with roads and ley lines in the form of welts, cuts, and bruises. Pale eyes memorized every pathway of injury while her heart ached in response. This was something she never experienced when she had rescued anyone else. Even with Austin, it had just been waiting until the hospital released him, not the aftercare or realization of one's mortality in stark contrast to her own such as this.

Cat swallowed visibly, watching Kara in the mirror again, seeing the emotions traversing her features and felt her body tense as she joined her hands across her abdomen, grateful for the underslip against her skin there even if it was making her cold. Kara caught her eyes when she glanced back across at their reflections, both women endeavoring to compose themselves in response to one another's gaze despite not even facing one another.

Kara reached for the line across Cat’s back then, feeling her intake of breath as it strumbled inward when she discerned what the other woman's fingers were approaching. They held one another’s eyes for another lingering moment until Cat gave a modest nod and Kara averted her attention to the clasp beyond the line of her shoulder blades. Knowing the slip would conceal any means of full exposure, Kara grasped both edges of the black lace, unhooking the catches and letting the ends split apart into her hold before gingerly releasing them to drape at Cat’s sides.

Before Cat could even speak Kara’s fingers were at her waist, their bodies nearly touching as she encircled Cat's hips and undid the metal latch between her hips, stretching the waistband apart rather than use the zipper of her skirt correctly. Her thumbs broke the seam easily, head tipping to the side so as not to collide with Cat's frame as she knelt down and escorted the fabric down until it caught around her thighs. Cat looked skyward for a series of moments, hands curled against her solar plexus before she turned to face the other woman, another shuddering breath prompting her to quiver as Kara’s fingers sifted through her hands to disentangle them, gently pulling at her limbs until they were bound around the strength of Kara's own shoulders.

She rolled the length of Cat’s skirt into her hands, their new position permitting Cat to shift her weight more securely. As Kara pulled it down, the other woman brought one foot out of the ring she made and then the other until it joined the shirt someplace on her bedroom floor with a short toss. Kara took her own deep breath, absently wetting dry lips before reaching up and taking Cat’s hands into her own as she stood.

Whilst Cat looked at her, Kara leveled hers with the woman’s palms, carefully stretching apart tape and gauze as she unwrapped her bandages. Cat’s palms were raw and inflamed, the lines of the seatbelt unmistakable as was the bruised welt where the buckle had obviously caught. Kara’s thumbs soothed over Cat’s wrists as she drew her touch aside and disposed of the wrappings with another bend of her body. When she straightened back, she reached around the other woman, hearing Cat's breath catch as her eyes pursued the path of Kara's arm in the mirror.

Kara carefully fingered the band that held back the woman's hair as Cat set her fingers against Kara's sides for something to hold onto. She apologized with a glance when she felt Cat tense up, drawing the holder away, pulling the lengths of her hair in the process until it fell in disjointed waves around her shoulders.

“I’ll start the shower.” While barely above a whisper, Kara's voice held an unequivocal strength that bolstered Cat’s already fractured reserves.

Cat let the woman slip out of her fingers, hearing the glass door open and the sound of running water replace the quiet between them. Kara lingered half inside the shower, steam chasing the chill in the air away and coating Cat’s nerves in a promise of comfort. She heard the other woman adjust the temperature, ensuring Cat wouldn't burn herself before closing the glass.

Without asking Kara found a pile of towels, pulling the chair from Cat's vanity closer and setting them on the cushion before grabbing the robe hanging too far out of reach and laying it over the chair back. She surveyed her preparations a moment before turning to look at Cat.

Again they lingered in their reflections of one another, both in gaze and mirror until Kara moved to leave.

“I’ll be right downstairs.”

Kara busied herself in the kitchen, Carter nestled in the small space set aside for him there to keep him occupied and out from underfoot. She mixed the last of the ingredients she had been preparing together in a baking dish, placing the lid over it and setting it in the oven to finish. As always she turned to the sink, cleaning up each piece as she was done with it, which currently left her with a large pan and a few spoons.

“Tink Angelsaurus come back?” Carter questioned around his concentration with his blocks causing Kara to glance at him a bit then go back to her own task at hand.

“The flying lady?”

“Yuh.”

“I don't know buddy. You think she should?”

“Gots to thank her, giff her hugs an stuff.”

“I see,” Kara smirked to herself, grabbing a drying towel as she turned to look at him. “What if she isn’t able to?”

“Mommy always wites notes.”

Kara grinned, leaning her back against the counter edge as she dried dishes. “She does?”

Carter nodded a few times, lying out on his back as he held two blocks up over himself, clacking them together in rhythmic succession. “Could giff to Mommy, she could giff to Angelsaurus.” He tipped his head back, looking at her upside down. “Then giff hugs.”

Kara chuckled gently, hanging the towel back into place as she started to put away the dishes she had worked with. “Sounds like a really good idea, except giving it to your Mom first, why would you do that?”

Carter giggled at her, laying back flat as he banged the blocks together again. “Mommy fine anyone an eveyting.”

That statement sobered Kara up a bit, her amusement at his desire to say thank you wavering somewhat as the heavier weight of his truth regarding the dogged nature of his mother when she put her mind to something finally seeming to slip into her awareness.

“Maybe not everything.” Cat’s voice sounded in the kitchen alongside Kara and Carter, causing the latter of the two to roll over on his tummy before leaving his blocks behind as he stood up and moved to the edge of his play space.

“Momma!” His arms were up, signaling that he was ready for her to lift him.

Kara moved before Cat, snagging him up like it was a game and bouncing him with a fit of laughter on the back of her ticklish probe of her fingers against his belly. His mother was freshly showered, hands free of bandages, hair half dry and down, heavy robe pulled closed and tied loosely.

With a knowing look, Kara bounced Carter over to his mother, making it far easier for Cat to hold him than if she had tried to pick him up herself. Carter grabbed ahold of Cat’s robe rather than her neck directly, embracing his mother with restraint as she hugged him back lovingly while negotiating her way to a chair to make it more comfortable for herself.

The oven sounded then, dragging Kara’s attention as she shut the timer off and pulled open the door, automatically reaching in to take the casserole dish out.

“Kara!”

The woman in question snatched her hands away with a startle, the dish clattering onto the rack, and even Carter looked surprised as Cat was already moving to stand and intervene, her wince apparent as she moved faster than intended.

“What were you thinking?” Cat admonished, adjusting Carter’s weight on her arm as she reached for Kara’s wrist only to have it kept away from under the pretense of checking them over.

“Hey that’s hot!” Kara lied, rubbing her hands on her pants as if trying to rid herself of the heat she knew wasn’t even there before relocating to the sink. Right, that was where people went when they burned themselves.

Cat kissed Carter’s temple, setting him back into his play space where he remained against the walls, watching the two of them with a confused and worried expression.

“Are you alright?”

Kara rubbed her fingertips together with her superspeed behind the lip of the sink just before Cat pressed beside her, thankful for the friction that tinged her skin red, however momentarily.

“Yeah, no I’m ok, just had it for a second.” Internally she chastised herself as Cat shut off the water and drew Kara’s hands to her for further inspection. “Really, I barely even felt it. I promise.”

Cat carefully wrapped Kara’s fingers in a nearby towel, squeezing gently to soak up the excess water before unwrapping them while Kara swallowed anxiously.

“I’m fine,” Kara said, and thankfully the tips were still reddened but not as much as before. “See.”

Cat’s thumb pressed into her palm, eyes scanning over for any additional damage until Kara’s fingers closed over her own forcing her to look up.

“Mama kay?”

Kara smiled incredulously, eyes closing to Carter’s little voice of concern as Cat’s hold on her slipped free when she looked around Kara to her son.

“Kara.” They both stated, causing Kara’s smile to grow as she turned to look at the little boy.

“I’m okay buddy. Wasn’t thinking.”

Carter made an extravagant display of relief, prompting the corner of Cat's mouth to lift as she began her way back to him, but instead of picking him up she unlatched the gate with the foot pedal, permitting him to push it aside as he hurried past her and wrapped around Kara’s leg.

The two women exchanged another glance between them; where Kara’s was conciliatory, Cat’s was appreciative. Kara tousled his hair gingerly, stooping down to him in order to hoist him up just as Cat stepped over and absconded with him almost playfully.

“Use a potholder.” She murmured in her passing, the words lost somewhere against Carter’s hair as she made her way out and into the living room.

Kara stood alone in the kitchen, watching the door swing a minute before letting out a sigh and a prayer to Rao, wanting to slap herself for her slip. “Idiot,” she grumbled, straightening her glasses before grabbing a set of potholders, just in case, and finished retrieving would be dinner.

Cat spoke quietly to Carter who responded to her in single word or sound as she walked him through the living room and towards the stairs once she was aware Kara had already fed him. Given the hour and the excitement, if you could call it that, of today, he needed to wind down and get some sleep.

When Cat didn’t return after a few minutes, Kara ventured from the kitchen, locating both of the Grant's heartbeats as she came to settle just inside Carter’s bedroom doorway. He was face down in his bed, partially wrapped around a pillow with blankets tucked around him while Cat gently stroked his shoulders with the backs of her fingers.

“I was going to set a place..” Kara spoke softly in an effort not to disturb either of them.

Carter merely nestled deeper into his pillow while Cat eased her touch away and proceeded to stand. She put a single finger to her lips, to which Kara nodded at and subsequently backed up while Cat turned up the monitor and made her way out, drawing Carter’s door partially shut.

Kara idled silently as Cat adjusted the door just so and then headed for the stairs, halting midway up and summoning Kara to accompany her. Kara looked perplexed for a second, stepping after the other woman regardless until they were standing in Cat’s bedroom again.

Kara couldn’t help but feel an unexpected twinge of nervousness as Cat moved deeper into the space, opening the doors to a rather large walk-in closet that was obviously modified from another bedroom. As Cat stepped around the corner Kara followed after her on the edge of uncertainty, she could easily drop her glasses and just look through the wall but that would just be one more explanation she would have to struggle with answering. As she came around the doorframe she saw Cat standing off to the side waiting for her, arms crossed over herself and holding her robe tighter. Kara started to take a breath to speak only to be interrupted by the other woman.

“I need something to sleep in.” Cat saw Kara’s confusion, and her fingers hardened against the dense fabric, proffering a dejected sigh, essentially at herself. She wasn’t used to this, her whole life Cat hadn’t had anyone to truly care for her, not on an intimate level without some variety of price for it; and then, Kara had come along and flung her whole perception out of alignment. “That I can manage without having to ask you to stay.”

Kara swallowed heavily, looking throughout the closet then back to Cat once more. It would be an easy phone call, rife with more explanations for later towards Alex and the rest at her apartment but-

“I can-”

“You, can help me.” Cat swallowed back the harshness of her tone, trailing in a gradual breath to calm herself. “A little bit more, before you make your way home. Please.”

Kara studied the other woman thoughtfully, noticing her posture and detecting the struggle in her tone despite the fact that it never fluctuated. She nodded sincerely and made her way closer, eyes darting around their immediate surroundings before glancing back to Cat for some kind of assistance towards her ensuing course of action.

“Bottom drawer, in the back. There's some clothes there that I should be able to handle in the morning.”

Following Cat’s directions, she bent down, pulling the large built-in drawer open until it halted, brow arching as she took in the minimal collection of what Kara herself seemed to have in abundance by comparison. Given the circumstances, while Kara had never presumed the woman even owned this particular variety of clothing, she guessed that sweats and oversized clothes would be the easiest thing for Cat to navigate all by herself.

Cat moved aside once Kara stood with her clothes in hand, she kept her back to Kara for a prolonged moment as if preparing herself for something until it was Kara who had to prepare herself as the sash of Cat’s robe was untied and the sides pulled apart before she let it collapse under its own weight to the floor, leaving her standing in nothing but her underwear. Pain radiated all through her, surging over her nerves on the back of her heartbeat, which in all fairness, was plausibly one of the only reasons Cat was even willing to be in this kind of compromising situation at all.

While Kara had seen evidence enough of Cat’s ordeal, being witness to the full extent of it without the obscurity of her underslip, like earlier, was another experience entirely. Kara’s fingertips curled tightly around the clothes in her grasp, while those of her other hand drew her glasses down just enough. Her lips hung apart in empathy, seeing how Cat’s aura coiled and twisted like some kind of maelstrom around the points of her injuries and outward. Kara drew an overdue breath inward, nudging her glasses back into place as she neared the other woman, placing the thin sweatpants over her shoulder and unfurling the oversized shirt before rearranging it in her grasp.

“Right behind you,” Kara announced softly, while Cat concentrated on regulating her breathing, nodding faintly so that Kara was aware she had been heard. Cat looked up when she detected movement in her periphery, observing Kara’s arms stretching over, her spine tensing as she felt the warmth radiating from Kara’s body through her clothing scarcely a breath away from her bare skin.

“Hold your arms out,” Kara spoke just into her hairline, forcing Cat to stifle a shudder as she followed through with what Kara requested only to drag in an unexpected breath when the two of them made contact.

Kara swore at herself. She had been trying so hard not to make Cat any more uncomfortable and speculated that she might be able to reach past the reach of Cat's arms until she couldn’t. What had surprised her, however, was not the abrupt intake of oxygen from Cat, but the pressure she readily applied against Kara’s body until the taller of the two was almost serving to hold the other one up.

Cat felt Kara’s chin press against the curve of her scalp tentatively, allowing herself just a single moment to relax with the absolution that she wouldn’t collapse. She followed with her eyes as Kara gingerly worked the sleeves of her shirt over her hands and along the lengths of her arms without asking her to lift them over her head again. Her chin dropped slightly as she concentrated on the weave of Kara’s fingers as they claimed the remaining material around the neckline.

Kara tried to focus on her task, thankful her fingers were still moving even if she couldn't quite feel them.  Each breath was slow and cautious, the weight of Cat's body against her own seeming to increase with every exhale simultaneously with the drum of her heart thumping against the other woman's back as if aspiring to rival Cat's own ahead of it. 

“Can you stand?” Kara asked genuinely inside a whisper, her progress having stilled when Cat had as yet to separate herself from the support of her body.

Not trusting her voice at the moment, Cat gave a terse nod, moving a half step ahead and feeling her skin pebble at the sudden current of air across her back. She inclined her head ever so slightly, the irritation in her neck muscles assuring that she not ignore the strain there as Kara took the opening to guide the shirt over her head.

Kara relaxed the material over the flushed muscles of Cat’s upper back, making sure the edge didn’t snag on her hips with a little flick prompting the other woman to turn, first at the neck, her eyes clouding from the tension of her action before she followed the motion around completely. Kara stayed put, eyes unfocused as she sought to find the fragments between them on a subatomic level as Cat reached up and grasped the thin drawstring pants from Kara’s shoulder.

Cat waited for a count, then two before gently finding one of Kara’s hands and lifting it between them, directing the limb palm up and placing the article of clothing there, mindfully resting the uninjured portions of her hands along the extent of Kara’s shoulders expectantly.  Kara tipped her head in question, her brain despite its superiority failing to catch up until Cat looked down between them.

“Sor-sorry.” Kara floundered over herself, remembering from earlier when they had been doing this in reverse and with a renewed hold on the pants she effortlessly knelt down. Using Kara as a kind of ballast, Cat shifted her weight, slipping one foot into the collected fabric waiting for her, then the other before it was pulled upward. She felt Kara falter somewhat, attracting her attention down to ask if she was alright until Cat heard something else just outside.

“Catherine?!” Asher whirled past the doorway of her bedroom, seeing the bathroom in disorder and the closet open. “Cat… I just heard the news,” he thought he saw the barest suggestion of her standing inside it and stepped over only to stop dead in his tracks. “Are you…”

For her merit, Kara still straightened, gently pulling the drawstrings at Cat’s waistline before relinquishing them to the woman in a fumble of movement on Cat’s behalf. Asher stared at the pair of them and Cat’s current state of dress and let out an incredulous exhale.

Cat flinched visibly as a consequence of wrapping the ties in her fingers until they were secured, only to feel Kara actually straighten even taller behind her.

Asher’s gaze cut over her shoulder to Kara specifically, and Cat immediately recognized his change in expression, a hand grasping back and seizing Kara’s wrist in an effort to compel her to stop challenging the man.

“You just heard.” Cat’s tone was not one to be trifled with, nor was it questioning him so much as relaying his own statement back at him to ensure he had indeed declared those words correctly.

“I did call, but I can see-”

“I went through all the numbers Karen logged, you weren’t on them.” It was Kara’s turn to curl her fingers around Cat’s wrist to soothe her even if she herself had yet to even blink.

“What the fuck is she doing here?”

Kara felt Cat tense dangerously when he raised his tone, twisting her arm free as she stepped nearer to the man.

“She’s related to that bitch from the hospital, which you told me was taken care of, including this one being fired.”

Kara practically  felt the slur leveled at her sister once it was uttered and advanced forward, halting only when she heard the frightened noises of Carter waking up amplified by the monitor near Cat’s nightstand in the adjoining bedroom.  Cat barely turned her head, eyes cutting side long at Kara who finally looked away from Asher.

“Do your job.” With another glance up Kara edged beyond Cat until Asher obstructed her path.

“And you get out of her damn way. Your fight’s with me not her.” Carter cried again, and as reluctant as he was to do so Asher moved aside, permitting Kara to pass. She and Kara locked eyes momentarily before Cat shut herself off and down, constructing her walls and fastening her armor to contend with Asher.

Kara rushed down the stairs and hooked around into the hall below, easily overhearing the two above her as she slipped into Carter’s room and tenderly pulled him out of bed, wrapping him up protectively, making sure her heartbeat was opposite one ear as she started to speak and her hand stifled anything that might trickle down to them against the opposite.

 

Another hour passed before the house grew still and Cat stood in the doorway just inside the hall of the second floor. Carter's bedroom door was ajar while Kara spoke in a language Cat still couldn’t place, its soft tones coating her nerves like a welcome salve. Mitigating the scars and blemishes still lingering across her soul like the words Asher spat at her around unveiled insults. His ruthless animadversions towards her son and other aspects of her life, still tainting her like a stain on bare wood.

She knew Kara had overheard half of their argument, more than. One that grew wicked when Asher really delved into who Kara was related to with more intensity than his singular remark that had come with his unexpected appearance, leveling all the blame for their upheaval and his shortcomings solely at Kara’s feet.

She had countered expertly, pointing out the real reason behind his ‘rush’ to get to his wife, however estranged, after nearly losing her life. His mistresses were gone, and Cat was the hottest ticket back to the top. She should have foreseen his actions for him to come running back the instant he saw anything regarding today.

Their argument had turned as he delivered the headlines of various tabloids, including a meager editorial from the Tribune itself like physical strikes with his vehemence. How despite their arrangement to go at this slowly, Cat had expedited the timetable with even more articles that had been printed recently. 

Cat had argued equitably. That if he had honestly considered her offer like he appeared to before now, and not been entangled with not just one other woman but three, linked with his preceding actions involving that New Years fiasco, she wouldn’t have let those things be printed. She merely would have sent him the bill for paying those three mistresses off.

The pair of them had gone word for word, insult, and vice as if it were a full-contact sport broadcast on national television once Cat had sequestered them with the slam of her bedroom door; and their argument had ended just as defectively as it started.  Asher condemned Kara and by extension Cat for his current failings and the question of his character by his firm, tore into her and her take no prisoners mentality at the cost of everything to further her own agenda. Which, he made sure to add, probably included pulling today’s publicity stunt all as part of some grandiose plan of hers.

All that she could handle and more.

She was not responsible for his actions or his character, certainly not for the lack of his own privacy on those matters. But the instant he had mentioned how Carter would end up just like Adam, insinuated that Cat was no better than Asher himself especially with the achievement of Kara as her first private whore, Cat lost it.

Now, in the silence of it all, was entirely different.

In the dim light of Carter's room, fueled by faux cut out stars and planets of his night light, this impossibly understanding woman that Cat had already put through the gamut today alone, was coaxing her son to sleep with an effortless murmur of some made up language between the two of them.

The conviction with which Kara spoke, however quiet, made Cat question the origin. Her ease and assured phrasing striking chords and colliding with Cat's insides in a way she hadn't felt... ever.

She swallowed thickly, one hand curling at her side, threatening to take her shirt with it as she dared closer, the blade of light painting her skin and making her eyes glow as she strained to hear Kara speak. Pulling in a deep breath against the warmth spreading across her chest. In that moment she allowed herself a brief instant, just one simple second of imagination and pretended Kara was actually speaking to her.

The pulse of her next heartbeat was like a spreading fire, her mind taking that simple inch of thought and running a million miles into the stratosphere with it. Her lungs burned, pushing at her ribs for more oxygen as flashes of long legs and impossibly warm skin, bare and on display just for her, fell out of her mind's eye.

Her other fist clenched tighter as she felt Kara's words roll across her skin, teasing the small hairs on the back of her neck to attention as thoughts of lips, teeth and tongues seared themselves into Cat's mind.

"Catherine." Asher's voice made her jolt, the muscles in her neck and spine tensed in reflex painfully. She cut her gaze to him slowly, then down to the leather duffle in his grip. Her jaw shifted as the unnerving spiral of real arousal and sexual desire was poisoned and corrupted in her stomach, threatening to rise up and scar her throat with the taste of bile his very image produced in this moment.

"I'm taking the Mercedes."

Cat rose a high eyebrow at him, her hands clenching tighter for an entirely different reason altogether. She felt her jaw clench visibly, reflecting her ire and the sick feeling crawling up her back, pawing at her neck with a chilling dampness. She nodded then, blinking her eyes back up to him and not bothering to hide her expression and irritation with his current behaviors.

“I’ll expect those papers, tomorrow, otherwise I’ll send my own.” He turned the keys over in his hand, not even bothering to hold her gaze, the finality of their sham of a life settling into him like a lead balloon. He tucked his lips and nodded, scuttling himself away and out of her sight without interruption.

Cat let her eyes close with the door behind him, her body shaking uncontrollably as she fought to breathe. Never feeling the shift in air, hearing the concerned voice a scant few inches from her until it was too late and Kara was touching her.

She would argue with herself it was impulse. A complete loss of self control. Mere gut reaction to a traumatic event fueled by additional stressors that seemed endless at this point. However, when Kara touched her she shattered and with it went her resolve or any reservation she had at making Kara hers in place of what her husband had ever intended upon hiring her.

Kara’s hair was softer than Cat had imagined, it always looked like it needed more conditioner. Her skin was warm, far warmer than Cat could ever recall another person being. Her mouth was velvety and inviting and she tasted nothing like Cat had imagined, if one could turn sunshine into a flavor, Kara Danvers was it.

Cat invaded her like a foreign country, stealing her way into Kara's mouth with the lash of her tongue and laying claim to everything it touched. Her hands fisted around Kara's clothes through the pain in them, twisting and pulling the two of them closer. Kara’s hands found her waist, smoothing around tentatively until Cat felt the pressure of her forearms against her lower back bowing her back until they were flush against one another.

Until they weren't any more.

Kara stood, her shirt half undone, breathing heavy, glasses askew and her hair pulled free. Cat was across the hall, back against the solid surface of the wall and unsure how she had gotten there. Though the slight throbbing of her shoulders should have been the first indicator. They stared at each other a moment until reality bit Cat firmly in the ass and once again her world broke into a thousand pieces as she spoke.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was not her own, rough and dark and betraying her arousal and something else, something far more primal she wasn't even aware of. She saw the change in Kara the second those stupid words were out of her mouth, a kind of fleeting disappointment followed by a steel curtain to protect herself no doubt.

Kara swallowed and adjusted her glasses, her hands already working a second after to tuck in her shirt and attempt to fix the buttons that had been torn free with Cat's grip. Forever thankful she’d had the sense not to wear her suit beneath it when she returned to CatCo given the amount of slip ups she already had around the other woman. Her head was shaking back and forth as Cat tried again to apologize.

Cat's would be apologies stilled when she realized Kara's eyes never left her, never turned down or away or drifted off in shame or some other semblance of rejection. She merely composed herself as easily as she seemed to handle Carter before crossing the distance between them and stepping into Cat's space once more.

Cat's hands were on the wall behind herself, itching to grab Kara all over again as she looked up at her when the other woman neared, causing the air between them to seem almost electrified as she came to a stop.

"You don't have to apologize for anything Cat."

Her name was like a prayer to her ears, stated with absolution and held with a level of faith Cat herself didn't even understand as Kara's eyes drifted over her body as if to check over her well being.

"Not with me."

Cat swallowed and nodded, pulling in her bottom lip and fitting it between her teeth to keep from saying or doing something more to compound the current soap opera of a situation she was suddenly the center of.

"Where did he go?"

Cat's head straightened in concern, not that she felt Kara could do much to Asher, he was bigger than the both of them at least in part. But with her expression and the way those pale blue eyes cut her to the bone Cat wondered if Kara _would_ do something to Asher just as a matter of some kind of misplaced loyalty or principle on Cat's behalf.

"The Seraphim" She found herself saying instead of lying. "He has a suite there. Room 613."

Kara nodded once, her shoulders squaring back a bit before she turned and started down the hallway and to the first floor.

"W...wait!" Cat was slow to move but quick to speak, catching up to Kara who was already shrugging her coat into a better fit around her shoulders while her fingers adjusted her lapels before she pulled the length of her hair free.

"Yes Ms. Grant?"

They were back to formality so quickly it made Cat's head hurt.

"Wh... you're not-"

"Not what? Going to get him and bring him back here?"

“What?”

Kara quit staring at the door and turned her attention back to Cat over her shoulder. "He shouldn't be the one leaving. I should be. I didn't, when I took this job, I hadn't." Kara let out a frustrated sigh at herself. "I'm not a homewrecker. Even if there’s nothing to salvage at the very least he needs to apologize to you."

Cat blinked, her expression clearly dumbstruck with Kara's raised brow when she failed to respond initially.

"Kara, you think Asher.." She moved around so that she was standing in front of Kara, blocking her exit and forcing the other woman to look at her instead of the door again. "You think he left because-"

"I know why he hired me, and I know you two were fighting about… things, including me."

Cat shook her head slowly. “Kara, you can’t wreck something that’s already broken beyond all repair. I’m certainly not faultless in any of this but you are not to blame.”

“If I never took this job, Cat-”

"What Kara? You think-"

"I know, if Asher had come in a few minutes sooner he would've seen a lot more than he did, which would’ve made your valiant argument to his implications, however misplaced, that much worse.”

Cat licked her lips cautiously, the strength of her ability to lie failing her perilously. "I probably could have pulled my own pants on."

"You said you needed-"

"I got my underwear on didn’t I?"

"Wh-"

"I wanted you to. I know it was... wrong and selfish but I’ve never allowed myself to let someone just...help me..."

Kara let her eyes close so she wouldn’t have to see Cat any more, feeling her throat tighten and her chest threaten to split in two. “But he’s Carter’s father.”

Cat reached for the other woman, fingertips lingering close enough to her features to touch, only to curl them away. “He’s not, actually.”

Kara’s eyes popped open and Cat was far closer than Kara remembered her being but didn’t step back just yet. Her expression relayed her confusion, and other tinges of her emotional state, her mind wondering just how much she thought she knew was really just assumption on her part.

“Does, does he know that he's not-”

Cat nodded, studying Kara intently.

“So he’s not leaving his son.” Kara’s voice was quiet, laced with some other deeper rooted emotion Cat identified as some other kind of personal trauma on Kara’s behalf at being abandoned, or so she assumed, by a parent.

“Not exactly, no.” Cat allowed.

“Mamas?”

Kara startled and Cat looked past her even as they both turned, seeing the youngest member of the Grant family standing on the landing rubbing at his eyes and looking at them both. His usual companion half crumbled on the floor while one of the dinosaur’s arms was clutched in his free hand.

“You should be asleep my little prince.” Cat said gently, glancing to Kara before moving, halting the younger woman’s motions towards him.

Carter yawned in dramatic fashion as his mother picked him up with a grunt before he reached for Kara, who simply held out her hand to him. He grabbed for it and pulled her closer over his mother’s shoulder, causing her to stumble slightly off balance and catch herself on the open mouth of the entryway they were all standing in.

“Mama stay.” Cater flexed his hands around Kara’s jacket and she ushered his grip back onto her fingers.

“Kara, can’t stay.” She corrected, glancing to Cat as she turned profile so she could see Kara and hold Carter properly as he refused to let go just yet.

“Why no stay, want Mama stay.”

“I’m.. I … I can’t buddy.” She ruffled his hair gently, not daring to look at Cat as she felt the sting and heat in her eyes that turned her vision to wavering glass. “I have to go home, take care of Alexasaurus Rex, remember? We’ll have a sleep over another time. Okay?”

“Oh...” Carter huffed sleepily, letting his head thump into his mother’s chest. “Okay.”

Kara smiled at him, catching the movement of Cat’s jaw as she started to speak and interjected before she could.

“I’ll see you, in the morning?” Despite her question Cat nodded faintly, sending a wave of relief through Kara’s chest. “You have my number okay if anything else, you him, anything.”

Cat wasn’t sure if she conveyed her apology enough in her expression at the situation and the state with which Kara was leaving but nodded just the same until their immediate circumstance caught up to her.

“No, wait, let me call a cab or something. It.. it’s been-”

“A day.. I know.” Kara offered her a genuine smile, before letting out a short exhale as if grounding herself. “Alex is at Pharros, I can meet her there, catch a ride, closer anyway. Remember?”

Cat tucked her lips inward and nodded, rubbing her hand along Carter’s back as he fell asleep against her. “I do, yes.” She swallowed visibly, her mind supplying the memory of when she had argued that point with Kara in a very similar setting.

“Goodnight Cat.”

“Goodnight… Kara”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ironically the end of this, starting with Cat in the hallway watching Kara was the very first thing I wrote for this story.. (minus the edits to fit it in now) and with it, I realized I needed the depth to write more from that point by writing the build-up before it... 
> 
> and such is this fic


	24. Civil Twilight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat is determined to find out who this caped crusader is and Astra asks for Alex's help concerning a life or death situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ When they land all I could hear was this... ](http://youtube.com/watch/?v=RRPofKtxRpU)
> 
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> 
> Astra's spoken words have been italicized as she speaks only in Kryptonese (unless otherwise stated of course)
> 
> Also...ANGST

Kara drew in a deep breath, slowly tuning out the world as it surrounded her where she stood on the curb just outside her building, coffee and pastries in hand. Even if it wasn’t Monday, or Friday, given everything that had managed to run its course in a single day seemed to warrant them. Even at the end of last night, she hadn’t gone to meet Alex at the hospital as she said, so much as just burned off a portion of the pent-up energy, thanks to Cat, and physically ran all the way back to her apartment.

As she stood waiting, she considered the near all night conversation she had been a part of. Firstly with Winn and Alex, until her sister actually had to go to work or risk being late. Winn crashed shortly thereafter, once the excitement of everything ate through his reserves. Which had left Kara and Astra. She should have been expecting the conversation they delved into. If she were honest with herself, a part of her had but refused to acknowledge that fact until it was too late.

The two of them had run the gamut with one another until Kara revealed as much as she could from the time she had arrived on Earth until now. Including the Fortress in the North, and what exactly resided there. That alone had given Astra great pause, and Kara knew she wasn’t telling her something but, given the hour and everything else they had occurred, it was a conversation they would need to continue at another time.

On an up note of it, Astra’s reluctant acceptance of Kara's current endeavors were made known once Alex returned home from her shift just before dawn. True to the great General she used to be, and in a way still was, in tandem with the said arrival, Astra declared that no niece of hers was going to run headlong into battle without some proper regimen of training and strategic preparedness.

But even that couldn’t lessen the ghost of a smile settling over her mouth now as she pinpointed a particular sedan and felt all of that energy from yesterday returning to her. Kara needed to tamp this down, even if her heart started to beat faster when she caught sight of the grille of Cat’s car when it turned the corner once the light turned.

When the car stopped she already felt something was different, and as she opened the door for herself she understood why.

Aside from Austin, there was no one else in the vehicle.

With a concerned expression, Kara slid into the seat and shut the door, setting the coffee tray in her lap and passing Austin’s over to him without looking over.

“Is this where you tell me I’m not watching Addie anymore?” Kara questioned, freeing her own cup after buckling her seatbelt.

Austin put the car into gear and glanced over sidelong at her before the corner of his mouth lifted in a knowing smile.

“More like, a list of understanding guidelines so we’re not so taken by surprise like the rest of the world.”

“I’m, I didn’t mean to Austin, everything just happened so fast and I needed-”

“To do exactly what you were meant to do. You were already a hero to us Kara, and you’ll continue to be, but we know your secret too.”

Kara nodded in understanding. “I never intended…” She let out a huff of a breath as they drove along. “I promise you, I will keep your family safe but I can’t-”

“Know what others might try to do.” Austin finished for her, his tone still calm and soothing despite the weight of their conversation. “Nobody does, with anything. But what I do know is this, so long as that ideal is kept as a constant consideration, it will determine the best courses of our actions. I have faith in this and you with it.”

She smiled at him, trying not to let emotion pull her features too much before she nodded and took another deep breath for herself until she remembered Cat nor Carter were in the car.

“Why’re you even picking me up?” She cleared her throat and took a long sip of her coffee, figuring Austin had come on his own just to talk with her and would be dropping her back off, whereas Cat may have actually taken personal time after the day's events before.

Of course, given that they were still headed towards the heart of National City and not in the direction of Cat’s home she figured she still had a job. Of course, she also assumed Cat would have called her if that situation had changed. Then again...

“You still have a job to do, hers just started earlier apparently.”

Kara couldn’t help the shake of her head as she turned to look out the window, seeing CatCo peak over the skyline. “Of course it did.”

 

Cat paced around in her office, dressed to the nines as usual, and thankful for the cooler weather as it gave the easy reasoning for her fitted sweater and slacks, even her heels were of a shorter graduation all for the illusion of her position versus comfort. Granted where she anyone else, she wouldn’t even be in the office.

Human resources had made sure to remind her with the memo waiting on her desk that they were more than willing to grant a proper leave for recovery fueled by the secondary memo from CatCo's insurance company and the tertiary memo from legal surrounding their formal inquiry into the helicopter company, the code approvals for the building and all other matters concerning the accident. As it was so labeled ' _until further review_ '. The quaternary memo that she had considered however was another from Lane, from a military aspect, her rank in the Army core demanded it and in all honesty, Cat was surprised her building hadn’t been crawling with agents from various government based departments when she arrived.

She would have to contain this, turn it on its head and cultivate the public to rally before the supposed knowing powers that be tainted the intention behind this would be heroine.

In order to do that, however, she would need that very woman of the hour in person and uncompromised.

She inverted her hands on her hips, the thin line of bandages she had replaced, a stark contrast against the black of her slacks as she looked out over the city through her office window. Snapper skirted through the main floor, his arms bent around a stack of newspapers and target set as he shouldered into Cat’s office.

“Everyone’s here, ready and waiting.”

Cat turned against the stiffness of her neck, eyeing the man before redirecting back to the screens along her office wall, each and every one still going over yesterday’s news. Only now transposed with the question of the ages: Who was that woman?

“Good.” She combed over her own station’s broadcast before stepping out of her office as Snapper headed back towards the boardroom where she had everyone assembled. As quietly as she could, she opened the neighboring office, causing Karen to look up at her from a desk nearby while Carter lay sleeping in the small dinosaur egg of a pod in the corner.

“She’s arriving now according to the car's location” Karen whispered, coming to a stand so that she didn’t have to speak across the room.

“Bring me my coffee the moment she steps foot in here.”

Karen nodded and started to say something, only to turn her gaze to the movement near the elevator banks over Cat's shoulder.

The woman in question stepped off, and Karen tipped her chin up with Cat’s questioning look to her procrastination. With a turn, she saw the reason and felt her heart flutter briefly before she slipped out of the room making a straight line towards Kara.

Kara couldn’t help but look over Cat’s frame as she stalked across her office floor, noticing the finer elements of her injuries still clinging to her from yesterday that no one else would think to consider. She knew she was caught the moment she lifted her gaze and merely maintained her pace, coffee, and pastry in hand.

Cat met her in the center of the floor, one hand sliding around Kara’s wrist as the other secured her own coffee cup, its contents still scalding hot if the cup was any indicator.

“Carter’s still asleep, I have a meeting, plenty more after this one I want lunch with my son, no exceptions, and it may be a long night, so I might need you to take him home before me.”

The two of them turned in a circle, exchanging their places in as few steps as it took Cat to speak.

“I’ll give Karen the details and let Austin know.” She pressed the small brown bag into Cat’s hold, releasing it and the cup to her as they parted and continued along their newly designated pathways.

It was the kind of whirlwind morning before work scenario one only seemed to discover in a movie or something. An intricate dance of motion and coordination of the day, it was a wonder Kara hadn’t leaned in and kissed Cat’s cheek or something once the exchange finally settled into her awareness as she crossed the threshold into her office with Carter.

“Morning,” Karen said quietly, her tone holding an interested lilt to it but she didn’t allow it to continue. “Can I get you or him anything before?”

Kara shook her head, her small smile never falling. “No thank you, you’ll be busy enough today by the sound of it.” With a nod, Cat’s assistant was off, headed towards the boardroom herself while Kara made her way towards Carter’s sleeping form.

 

“Now look..” Cat tossed out the first paper, the weight of it dropping into the center of the table with a rumble of glasses and notepads. “The Post  _‘It Flies’_ , The News _‘Look, Mom, No Wires’_ , The Gotham Gazette _‘Blue Bomb Buzzes National City’_ , even the Daily Planet for crying out loud, _‘Caped Wonder Stuns City.’_ Among countless others.”

The woman splayed out each newspaper, every single one displayed an obscured photo of the incident or frozen frame from a camera but no clear proper photograph of her or the woman who had saved her, each overlapping the next until she tossed the Tribune on top of the stack.

Their photo was first hand, black and white, somewhat blurry due to the lack of quality but the picture was unmistakable. On full display was Cat, obscuring her savior in part, and the mangled helicopter in profile floating against the backdrop of the city from a rooftop security camera.

“I appreciate the driving effort to scoop the rest, and certainly the photo is above par by comparison to anyone else, the article is a bit trite but serves well. First-hand accounts, witness statements, everything from the immediacy of the scene is in near perfect execution.”

Those in the room glanced at themselves, it was a rare moment when the woman praised any of their efforts, and this was quite an expanse by that comparison. However, her tone and posture, not to mention her lack of keeping still continued to wind the room up as if she were twisting the wires of a marionette into her fist.

“We are sitting on the story of the century here.” She stopped at the head of the table then, hands wrapping around the head of her chair as she scanned over those available. “One of my mentors told me, a good reporter doesn’t get great stories. A good reporter makes them great. Nothing, outside of living, could have made what happened yesterday greater… aside from being a direct part of it.”

Those in the room looked around at each other then back to their proverbial matriarch.

“I’m not just talking about me, I’m talking about all of us. I’m talking about not only National City but this very endeavor right here with CatCo.” Cat made sure to punctuate each word with a stab of her finger against the stack of papers.

“I want the name of this flying whatchamacallit to go with CatCo like bacon and eggs, Meryl and Oscar, death and taxes, Late Night and Conan, politics and corruption.”

“I don't think she would lend herself to any cheap promotion schemes though Ms. Grant.” One of her newest reporters piped up, her focus leveled on her tablet as she took notes.

“Exactly how you would you know that?”

“Um, just a first impression?”

“All in the span of five minutes or less while I was dangling from a helicopter? How astute of you.” Cat eyed the overeager individual before dismissing them. “I want the real story. I want the inside track on this woman, I’ve already got a bounty out for a real photo, I’m half tempted to give it to the security company no thanks to anyone here ” She gestured to the cover image of the Tribune once more gauging each of their reactions.

“Now I want info. Real info, not urban legends perpetuated by friends of a friend of a guy who heard on the street about this story after a bender in a bar. Does she have a family, where does she live, what does that ‘s’ stand for, how does she fly?”

Cat pushed off the chair again, hands settling in her pockets as she looked at each face staring at her. “Mark, who is she?”

The man in question looked struck and for lack of anything else to do, outwardly shrugged with a quiet “Idunno”

“Alice, what’s her name?” The woman looked just as shocked when Cat pointed at her, even if Alice wasn’t actually her name and all she could do was shake her head.

“James, what’s she got under that cape, some kind of military prototype?” The man on loan from the Planet swallowed hard.

“If it is, it’s nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

Cat hesitated in her track around the table when he spoke, the corner of her mouth tipping up slightly. “Potential.” She stated, searching over the tall wire of a man before circling back to the table and resuming her pace.

“Why did she show up last night? Has she been here this whole time or what? Either way, where does she come from?” Cat moved closer to where Snapper was standing, his own expression one of amused discretion as he watched her weave and spiral the minds of those far too eager to please in the room.

“Does she have a boyfriend?” She pointed at Snapper, giving him a small wink while the others there let out a few nervous chuckles as the man gave her an incredulous glare when she turned and made her way back to the head of the table leaving her back to the room. “Does she have a girlfriend? Is gender even a factor?” Cat toyed with her necklace then, thoughts moving about as she narrowed her gaze and searched the skyline.

“Now listen to me. I tell you boys and girls, whichever one of you gets this out, is going to wind up with the single most important interview since... God talked to Moses.” She let her pendant go, taking her time as she made a slow turn to level her gaze on the room, waiting as they all realized the other shoe was about to drop. “Assuming I don’t get it first.”

Snapper actually put a hand over his mouth choking back a small laugh at her theatrics and it merited a sharp cut of her eyes before she pulled in a deep breath, folding her arms over the head of her chair.

“You have a standard week. Starting yesterday, we’re scrapping the Marsden interview.” She watched that settle into each of them like thorns from a cactus. “I’ve got layout and promotion after this but I wanted you to be the first to know. I want the revenue of this prime issue to go through the roof and pay your salaries for the entire year if I can. If need be we’re going to re-write the book around this.”

“The launch date is already set,” James spoke up again and Cat lifted her gaze to him, tilting her head slightly as she stared him down before glancing at the rest.

“Indeed it is. Which is why this new course. If all else fails, whichever one of you can gather the most information sans interview with that woman, can interview me instead. It’s self-serving and a bit of a downstep but then again if Oprah can be on the cover of every O then a story is a story and as much as I would love to, I can’t promote Secretary Marsden’s political standing where it should be with all this going on.” She swiveled her gaze around the room, brow lifting when none of them moved.

“What’re you sitting around about for? You’ve already lost a day.” She caught the eyes of a few of them as they hesitated. “MOVE!”

**\-------**

“ _Alexandra_?” Astra tried again, her hushed whisper rough against Alex’s ear as she felt her body pull itself into some kind of consciousness. She felt the indistinct graze of something against her cheek followed by a less than gentle prod of Astra’s fingers into her shoulder that made her grimace slightly.

They needed to work on the finer points of the woman’s strength, not that Kara hadn’t managed a lot with her over the course of time she had been around humans and other breakable things. This was just a minor detail, one that was more of an irritation than it should have been, namely because Alex was still trying to sleep her shift off.

“ _Alexandra_?” Astra’s voice was right against her ear and she startled in an effort to sit up only to slam her head into what felt like a brick wall then smoosh back into her pillow from the rebound.

“What the fuck!?”

Before Alex could lift a hand to her head, Astra’s was over the point of collision and when Alex opened her eyes, blinking through the sleep induced haze, she realized exactly what she had crashed into.

Astra was hovering, literally, over her, over the bed, the fabric against her face had been the woman’s hair and the wall she had collided with was the Kryptonian’s impervious jaw.

 _“I am sorry,”_ Astra stated, and Alex squeezed her eyes shut once more before opening them to the face above her, the wall of her hair behaving like a curtain around either side of Alex’s features.

“Usually there’s more space.” Alex proposed, swallowing her discomfort as she set her hand on the flat of Astra’s chest and gently pushed. Understanding the movement, Astra drifted with the action until Alex stopped, settling them closer to arm's length versus nose length.

“ _It was not my intention to rouse you so violently_.”

The explanation was authentic, particularly around the structure of her native tongue, which was something Alex still had to wonder about. Astra had yet, aside from their names when she chose to actually use them, to speak English. At first, Alex had speculated it was simply as a means to hold onto her heritage, as Kara had. But, given what she knew about their capacity to process language and information, she was beginning to question if it wasn’t a kind of after-effect from whatever experiments had been done on her prior to now.

They lingered in the silence of each other for another series of heartbeats until Alex discerned that Astra was analyzing her again. Even if she did do it openly, Alex found it to be moderately unnerving, afraid Astra could hear her thoughts or something comparable.

“I know you don’t need to sleep, especially after everything, but I do.” Alex explored Astra’s features, only her eyes revealing a sign that she had processed Alex’s comment. She drew in a breath, eyes raising up to where Astra’s hand still crooked around her head. She stretched up, encircling her hand around the woman’s wrist, smoothing her thumb into Astra’s palm before lifting. “I’m ok.”

“ _Kara is at work, and will be for hours_.”

Alex lifted an eyebrow, hands seeping into her covers as she endeavored to push herself a little further up.

“Yes, she’s been doing this for a while now, she probably won’t be home until late again.”

“ _Winn has gone ‘out’. He told me to inform you he needed to get some things but he would be back. No running, he was adamant that I convey that."_ As Alex shifted, so did Astra, gliding back until she was seated a few inches above the bed and Alex’s legs.

Alex took the opportunity to push herself to sit against the headboard, hooking up only one leg, knowing Astra wouldn’t settle onto the bed much like she seemed to refuse to settle onto the floor half the time.

“So you woke me up right after he left so I would be aware?” Alex seemed perplexed, for one, she wasn’t sure how safe Winn was all things considered, for two, if he had gone out and would eventually be back, why not leave her to sleep and wake her up on the indication that he didn’t come back. She glimpsed at the clock then, realizing she had only slept about two hours give or take before looking back to Astra.

 _“I need to go… out somewhere as well._ ”

Alex swallowed visibly. While it wasn’t as if Astra was a prisoner, or Winn, the two of them hadn’t really ventured beyond the apartment save for a single hand count of times very late at night and very well accompanied by Kara and herself.

“I-I-I uh, I’m not so sure, _we_ can go, but I can go get whatever-”

Astra leaned in suddenly, and given the request, Alex had been anticipating it given the intensity of the woman’s approach to waking her up.

“ _We have to go together, I can not leave you here, and you can not leave me alone. Otherwise, we are both going against Kara’s house rules.”_

Astra was taking that term way too literally but Alex nodded and inclined her head watching the Kryptonian who almost appeared, for lack of a better word, excited.

“Whe-where would we be going?”

“ _So you will allow me to take you_?”

Alex gave out a meager uncomfortable laugh. “I didn’t say that, yet. I need to know where we’re going.”

Astra took in a deep breath, a substantial gravity descending into her shoulders enough to lower her position above the bed, which in turn only made Alex straighten up notably against her headboard.

“ _I have something that I need to take, before it dies, to the place Kara went to in the North.”_

Alex didn’t realize she was already holding her breath until she tried to take in another. She would be lying if she didn’t want to see that place. Kara had hinted at it, divulged just enough to provoke her sister’s curiosity and sow a seed of wonderment once Kara had cited it as the rationale of why she had left when they were younger. A seed that had only been watered and permitted to grow inside Alex’s chest the more it had been brought up since the start of the year and finally blossomed when Kara had implied she had returned to that very place after that night at the Lorcan’s.

She pulled in the corner of her mouth, drawing her leg in tight before leaning in conspiratorially as Astra let her weight descend into the mattress.

“We wouldn’t be leaving the other alone _._ ” Astra shook her head wordlessly. “Technically we’re not breaking a rule.” Again the other woman shook her head while Alex worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “This… thing, that’s going to die?” Astra inclined her head curiously as Alex spoke. “Is it important to Kara?”

“ _Yes_.” The conviction in Astra’s voice was unmistakable as was a growing reality that they were really agreeing to do this.

“I-is it important, to you?”

“ _Yes_.”

Alex swallowed strenuously with the almost wanton intensity of Astra's secondary confirmation, the pair of them no more than a few inches from one another. She searched Astra’s eyes, finding no uncertainty nor even a kind of fear behind them. Maybe that’s what unnerved Alex so much about her half the time, it was as if she already knew the outcome to everything, and if not, she could seek it out in a heartbeat. The absence of fear so readily on display should ostensibly terrify anyone confronted with it, instead, Alex felt herself fascinated by it.

“We have to be back before Kara or Winn return.” Alex found herself whispering, feeling the tautness throughout her chest constrict as Astra nodded one time. “I’m going to need warm clothes.” Astra nodded again, expectantly, as Alex laid out her terms and conditions. “Y-y-you’re going to have to remember, I’m not like you. I’m human, compared to you-” 

“ _You are delicate, not inadequate_.” Astra tipped her head again, observing the air around Alex’s frame before looking back at her directly. " _You have never been weak, Alexandra."_

“Right..” Alex licked her lips absently. “Under normal conditions, my body has to maintain twenty-two millimeters of blood pressure to get blood from my heart to my brain… the faster you go the harder I have to work… I don’t want to pass out...” Or worse, she thought. "And y-you can’t start or stop instantly...and, well I don’t know exactly where that place is.”

“ _The object I have will help guide us._ ” The angle of Astra’s mouth quirked as she leveled her features and observed at Alex for a long moment before decisively nodding. “ _Do you trust me, Alexandra?”_

Alex responded with a very precise series of nods, causing both edges of Astra’s mouth to lift.

“ _Then I promise, you will be alright._ ”

“We should-I should get ready then, so we can get back.”

Astra approved, slipping off the bed. _“I will wait for you in the other room.”_

Alex nodded, idling until she was satisfied Astra was gone before rapidly getting dressed. Layers would be good, layers were essential. She threw her bedclothes to the floor, pulling on a pair of briefs and one of her sports tops and leggings. She opened a drawer or two, scouring about for anything fleece lined, with a bounce and a tug she was over her bed, pushing into the small closet where another dresser sat, picking through for a few more things before pulling a dense jacket from a hanger and heavy boots from the floor.

As she entered the living room she was bouncing into her second boot, sitting on the arm of a chair to pull them on tight before lacing them up. Astra pulled her hair back into a ponytail like she had seen her niece and Alex do, where Alex still had hers in a braid. She tucked the length of it into her jacket before pulling on a hat and gloves just as Astra came to stand close enough to touch her knees.

Alex swallowed carefully, knowing Kara might never forgive her for this, but as Astra said this was important, so much so that it involved saving a life. Isn’t that what Alex was working so hard to accomplish on a daily basis anyway? She cleared her throat looking at Astra's midline before slanting her eyes up, supported by a tilt of her head back.

“A-are those going to be warm enough?” Alex had surveyed Astra’s clothes, which they had bought for her shortly after leaving the hospital. She looked like she was ready for a work out instead of some cross-country trek.

“ _There are very few, if any, places on this planet that would cause a decline or elevation of my regulated temperature.”_ Astra inspected Alex’s own outfit, head inclined curiously. “ _Will you be sufficiently warm_?”

“Depends on how far we go.”

Astra nodded, her expression shifting somewhat as she considered something before stepping back and allowing Alex to stand.

“We’ll have to find a safe place to leave from, to be safe.”

“ _I have found such a place, we should be fine if you are ready?”_

Alex nodded, grabbing her keys, phone and wallet and stuffing them into her jacket as Astra followed her. She hesitated at the door only to turn and look at Astra directly.

“Swear.”

Astra truly seemed a bit shocked, brow lifting as she dipped her head to the side again.

“Swear we’re saving someone’s life.”

Astra’s eyes combed over Alex’s aura, seeing the bands of ambivalence all around her before squaring her features. _“I would not lead you astray on this. I swear it.”_

Alex nodded, averting back to the door and permitting Astra to take the lead as they made their way through the apartment building and out.

 

When they touched down again, Alex refused to let go of the other woman, her equilibrium shot, stomach threatening a mutiny, body spontaneously reeling from the cold, and eyes straining to adapt to the twilight around them. Astra felt the other woman shiver, pulling her a touch closer into her arms as she kept her steady, breathing in Kryptonian against her skin before tenderly tugging at the collar of Alex’s jacket and huffing a breath of hot air into the insulating layer.

“Mmfy-god t-t-tell me w-we’re not far.” Alex stammered, swallowing down the twist in her abdomen as she pulled her arms around herself within Astra’s own. “Else y-you’re going to h-have to do that constantly.”

Astra reached into an inner pocket near the heart of her thin jacket, careful not to break contact with Alex as she embedded herself into the Kryptonian's much warmer body, retrieving the disc there and holding it out in her hand. Its vague blue light pulsed weakly before formulating an even dimmer series of Kryptonian characters upon its surface.

“ _We are not_.” Astra shifted the pair of them, keeping an arm firmly around Alex from where they stood on the side of some mountainous frozen tundra. “ _Do not let go of me Brave One…”_

Alex nodded, tucking into Astra’s side, which was surprisingly warm while Astra half walked and half climbed the cliff's edge. She guided the pair of them a few yards, pausing to blow hot air into Alex’s jacket and across her gloved hands only to step down into a void of air prompting the pair of them to free fall through a false canopy of thin ice and snow until Astra suspended their decent a few inches short of the ground of the small hollow.

“How did I ever let you talk me into this?!” Alex said around the collar of her jacket, clinging to the Kryptonian who floated them the final inches onto stable ground despite the reality that Alex couldn’t see anything. Given the echo of her voice they were surrounded but at least it wasn't so windy anymore.

"Can't really see.” Alex chattered through her teeth as Astra escorted her to her side once more, taking a deep breath before permeating the chamber with another burst of heated air. Alex startled at the impossibly deep reverberation as the ice acclimated to the variation in temperature.

Astra brought the disc out once more, washing the two of them in a dusky blue luminosity, painting the walls of ice around them like stars. Without falter or sound, Astra moved the pair to the far wall, efficiently distinguishing the channels along the floor already icing over from Kara's former venture here.

“ _Hold this._ ” She commanded, passing the disc to Alex before skimming her hands across the wall and displacing the verglas along its exterior.

Alex held the disc high, further illuminating striations of stone like asteroid belts through a variable galaxy of crystalline shards and columns surrounding them amidst the falling whorl of snow where they had entered.

Astra slotted her fingers into the points previously made, tugging at the wall with a decent bit of force, shaking the foundation they were occupying and propelling clouds of glacier and stone in all directions. Alex shouted as a hunk of ice fell near her and moved closer to Astra until there was enough of a gap for them to slip through.

“ _Go, it is no more than ten steps, walk no further than that Brave One_.”

Alex nodded, her body trembling from cold and something else as she looked to the rift, tightening her hold on the disc she turned sideways, scooting between the frozen rock while counting each step in her head. Her free hand reached the gap before the rest of her, and that tenth step served more like a nine and a half as she edged around the stone and onto the small ledge. Behind her Astra turned to the fracture in the ceiling they had made, drawing in a deep breath before sending a glacial surge of air to seal it up behind them.

Astra’s hand was on her arm after another few moments as she emerged from the darkness they were leaving behind into the next. Again Alex’s body was inundated with warm air inside her coat as Astra followed the limb with her hand to the other woman’s waist and tugged them together again.

The space they occupied now was much greater than from where they had been, Alex could feel the empty air and the near absolute stillness closing in on the two of them. The light in her hand nothing more than a matchstick to the darkness of space laid out ahead of them. She swallowed thickly, offering the object back before Astra shook her head.

“ _It will be easier if you carry it and I manage the both of us.”_

“O-okay…” Alex held the disc up, the wall beside her gleaming with the pale blue tinge as more symbols emerged on its surface.

Astra stepped carefully, ensuring the ground was solid for the both of them while simultaneously preparing to levitate should the formations give way. Her eyes hunted through the expanse until she found a kind of couloir for the pair to utilize for their descent.

Alex was dumbstruck, from what little she could see, she felt as if she were walking through some kind of galactic starfield, surrounded by cathedrals of rock encased in diamonds of ice. The flickering light in her palm reflecting like electrical impulses as they transversed farther into the monstrous cavern. It felt wrong to even think as she let the warmth of Astra's body fill her while they walked along. A moraine of crystals and glacier that seemed to extend into oblivion met them as they proceeded onward and served as a durable enough pathway for an expansive stretch of time until Astra halted the pair of them abruptly.

“What is it?” Alex whispered.

Astra kicked at the frozen gravel in reply, sending it across the darkness ahead where the solid ground transformed into a cascade of inky liquid that sloshed as far as Alex could strain to hear.

“ _Hold on_ ” Astra instructed, her resonant voice flooding their surroundings as Alex wrapped her arm tighter around the other woman's midline.

Astra took a step forward, floating over a slurry of ice, rock, and fluid, easing Alex higher against her body as she drifted ahead into the void. Alex felt the wind the generated on her skin, shuddering involuntarily while water rippled beneath them in their wake until a bank of ice rose to meet them. Astra refused to let them down, proceeding onwards as if it were second nature. Alex pressed the disc closer, taking note that it had appeared to dim further and questioned if that was the reason they proceeded to fly instead of walk.

Before she could think to ask, the cavern narrowed, ice transitioning away to a more solid rock-like edifice that steadily began to illuminate with its own inner radiance from the aperture leading them to another cave.

“ _Sunstone_ ” Astra declared with her own edge of disbelief and once they crossed the threshold at the end of the tunnel all Alex could do was gasp and cling to Astra as the terrain gave way altogether.

Astra descended into the chamber with a slow reverence, while perfectly formed spires of crystalline matter crisscrossed and wove into a vast alien architecture. The supposed entrance of which was heralded by an array of massive humanoid formations holding a meticulously formulated solar system Alex didn't recognize.  As they touched the ground Alex felt infinitely warmer and Astra's hold on her slipped away as she stepped further forward on her own. Alex turned slowly, her mouth agape and her eyes trying not only to adjust to softer light but process all that she was a witness to. 

Astra took a few confident strides, her gaze rising to the figures, easily recognizing one as Rao himself, the sun of his namesake hovering over his vast hand. Yuda held up the moon as was her domain, Telle their god of wisdom held the scales of the stars and a variety of planets with them. Lorraine and Mordo, deities of beauty and strength held the balance of the remaining planetary structures while Cythonna herself offered up the Well of Stars and The Phantom Zone in perfect harmony.

It was the final figure that made her falter, where she would have expected it to be under Mordo’s weight. There, surrounded in a crown of Krypton's moons, the proud crest of the House of El emblazoned across the justicars chest while her hands cradled Krypton itself, were the chiseled hallmarks of her own sibling.

She hadn't even known she'd gone to the ground until Alex was at her shoulder, kneeling down with a hand on her back, voice obscured through the thunder of blood rushing in her ears but the panic in Alex's noise was unmistakable.

 _“I am alright_.” She husked, consuming her emotions back as Alura’s crystalline features were replaced with Alex's very alive ones.

“What happened? Is it the cave, your abilities are they-”

“ _I said I am alright.”_ Astra regretted her tone the instant it echoed back at her. Even more so when Alex took her hand away and moved away from her.

“O...okay.” Was Alex's only response as she eyed the other woman for a second longer before turning completely. She followed the line of where Astra had been looking, easily identifying the sigil as Kara's, only to feel her heart burn with the features that greeted her upon further examination. “Oh my God"

Astra stood on her own, taking a singular acoustic step forward to signal Alex to her movements before allowing out a melancholy sigh. “ _Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of their children_.”

Alex swallowed the stones in her throat, questioning if this place had been erected as it stood for Kara, or if she had added to it with this as the outcome. Either way, a part of her conceded why her sister would abhor even discussing this place after having walked away from it years ago. She felt sick, not only for her sister but the woman behind her that had the identical features as that statue holding their homeworld in her hands above.

Her eyes burned with the fire of tears that sprung to life as she clutched the disc in her grasp tighter to her chest to restrain her hands from trembling so vehemently as to drop the device. She drew a stuttering breath, trying to soothe her emotions before she tried again, resolute on voicing something, _anything_ , in a vein of solace to the woman behind her.

Instead, the disc intervened, its benumbed sonance favoring some kind of warning signal that had Astra in front of her almost instantaneously.

“ _Nononono_ …” Astra’s characteristic stoicism crumbled notably as Alex readily relinquished the object to her. The light in the center was a ghost of its earlier self and the pulse that had guided them here ever waning. “ _Come with me.”_

With a turn Astra hurried inside, winding through the open passage past numerous antechambers and corridors until they arrived at a kind of control panel, inundated with a plenitude of colored quartzes implanted into hollow conduits. Alex kept up as best she could, almost skidding to a standstill and catching herself on the corner of the panel as Astra set the disc ahead of her while its light continued to decay.

“You are not welcome here.” A stentorian voice thundered all around them, causing Alex to hold her hands over her ears while Astra, despite her own wince at the racket, continued to ascertain the best course of action concerning the console.

Alex swore, scanning around. “We, we're trying to help some… one.” Her voice trembled for only a second as she shouted to the chamber.

“I was not referring to you Alexandra of the house of Danvers.” Zor-El’s voice was right beside her and with a yell, she was on the other side of the console from where he stood. “I was referring to the traitorous one who brought you here.”

 _“I am no more a traitor than you,”_ Astra snarled, modifying and rearranging crystals with no effect.

“You, terrorized your own. Murdered your own. The fact you are alive where our whole is lost to the stars bespeaks of Rao’s own judgment against-”

“ _And you condemned your own DAUGHTER!”_ Astra struck at him, her fist passing through a matrix of crystalline mass before the man solidified once more. “ _After all the secrets I kept, the lies I bared the stain of, the wrongful judgment I carried into that prison. I -never- killed my people, I was their General, I was trying to protect them. To save them but none of you would listen!”_

Astra looked like an animal cornered, the seams of her shirt strained to the point of rupturing with her struggle at restraint. The crystals were forgotten for a moment as she glared at the man, her eyes flaring brightly with her anger. “ _Your brother believed me. He knew and somewhere, you believed him too, otherwise only Kal-El would be on this planet now.”_

“Only the blood of Kara or Kal-El will enable that to function Astra. Whatever you have planned is forfeit.”

The disc enunciated again, a terminal sigil offered up before the light dissolved altogether.

“ _NO_!” Astra hurled her fist into the structure, leaving her mark as Zor-El phased through the object and stood directly in front of the woman.

“It is over Astra. You can not-”

“ _Please, Zor-El, you can override the system, I swear, on my life on Kara's, you must connect that module.”_

“Your life was already forfeit Astra. For all I know, this is just so you can continue with your intentions of reforming the world. An attempt to redeem yourself by impersonating God to-”

“ _You and your brother played God enough for all of us!”_ She roared, hands curling into fists. “ _The council, all of your arrogance and delusions and superiority!”_ Astra looked at the module again, its surface becoming dull and lifeless. She pushed the tears across her face, arms shaking as she hardened her hands.

_“I beg you, if you cared for me ever, if you loved my sister. If you wish to do right by Kara. You. Will. Help me.”_

Zor-El tilted his chin, the unchecked emotion evident on the woman's face straining at his curiosity as he glanced at the object on the pedestal, his staunch and unmoving demeanor breaking. He quickly identified the receiver, its muted facade giving him pause before his eyes were cast to Alex, then to Astra.

“A tethering module?” He stared at Astra, his appearance displacing drastically as understanding settled into his matrix. “She's alive.” His voice was breathless and all Alex could do was stare between them, edging closer to Astra in her apparent anguish. “Impossible. Even if she were, you were sent to Fort Rozz before-”

“Please.” Alex swallowed, a hand sheltering around Astra’s clenched fist as she put herself between the two, staring down the man she knew now as Kara’s own father.

“She… those things you say may have been true, but Astra has changed. I've seen it. I know her as someone far greater than those things you say she was.” Alex squeezed Astra’s quivering fist, glancing to the disc once more before looking back to Zor-El. ”That doesn't mean she doesn't carry those parts inside her, but they are not the whole of her. She swore to me. She swore on Rao that this would save a life.”

“ _Alura sent it with me Zor-El… as proof, should Krypton have survived. Should Kara have survived.”_ Astra looked over the crown of Alex’s head, her emotions raging around her aura like solar flares. “ _For Rao's sake, please!_ ”

Zor-El looked between the two women, his gaze alternating back to the disc on the console.

“The first chamber, on the right, take it there.”

Astra started to reach for the device only to have the man cut her off.

“Not you,” he turned then, hoving his hands over the other woman’s shoulders. “Alexandra. I will prepare the vessel by the time you reach it. You, Astra, shall remain.”

Alex didn't hesitate, giving the other woman a final squeeze before grabbing the disc and racing back down the corridor at full speed, clamoring into the first antechamber as designated. The room itself erupted to life, with what she guessed were Sunstones, in a violent lattice of crystals and formations overlapping each other to capacity, filled with that alien inner radiance. The intensity of the light grew two-fold before a massive crystal erupted from the floor a few inches from her feet, a small niche equaling the contour of the disc cut out of its core.

“Place the module in the recess. If Astra is lying I will do what I am capable of in order to protect you, Alexandra.” Zor-El’s discarnate voice reverberated across each crystal.

“She's not. Whatever she did before, it's not worth condemning her again, or others. She has paid her due. I swear o-on my own house.”

Zor-El smirked gently as he manifested, gesturing again to the column. “Kara was right about you.”

“Then you should trust that I'm right about this, and General Astra.” Alex stepped forward, glancing at him one more time as if to measure the veracity of his actions before setting the disc into the recess and waiting. Whatever she was expecting she didn't know but when the light failed to thrive across the disc surface again she looked at the man. “Why isn't it working?”

Zor-El looked from the disc to her, bending his head curiously. “Patience.” with his request the surrounding crystals dimmed, their light fluctuating dramatically as if each one were systematically being drained while the center pedestal began to brighten. Slowly at first, until an indistinct hum filled Alex's ears and only grew louder as the pillar grew brighter.

Astra remained in the place where she had been, head surrendered and fingers gouging into the console as she waited, the hum from what felt like eons away grinding at her teeth as she prayed, neglecting to notice the movement behind her.

Alex raised an arm, hand shielding her eyes from the increasing light as she stepped back towards the entrance of the chamber while the encompassing crystals continued to turn opaque, feeding the pillar in the center.

The whole of the room went dark then, leaving Alex abruptly heartsick, dreading they had argued the circumstance for too long to do any good. She crept forward, the neighboring crystals having turned black as if each of them held their own limited splinter of space within them while her fingers grazed over the disc surface implanted in the central pedestal. She turned her eyes to Zor-El, hunting for an explanation until she felt warmth sear itself into her touch. Alex gazed around, awestruck as she felt as if she were practically drifting in space, surrounded by the entirety of the cosmos while being witness to the birth of a pulsar.The surface of the disc intensified, once flat and inanimate was now an infinite cerulean, radiating like some intensely precious gemstone riddled with inclusions like veins that abruptly rippled to life in an interchange of incessant impulses.  

Astra slipped to her knees from where she had been standing, forehead resting on the plinth as all the tension abandoned her body, leaving her boneless. “ _There she is_ …”

Alex stared at Zor-El for a half second, drawing her touch away from the column before turning and making her way out of the antechamber and back to Astra, the woman’s own name dying on her lips as she came to a standstill.

“You did it my star.” Alura’s voice was strong, corporeal, not like the more empyreal resonance that Zor-El manifested.

As Alex stepped closer she watched the simulacrum of Alura kneel beside her sibling, hand pressed firmly against her back rubbing in small tangible circles until Astra turned, sinking the rest of the way to the ground before wrapping up the other woman in the strength of her arms. 


	25. Valentine's Day Planning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat recieives a surprise correspondence from her ellusive hero and the DEO closes in with help from the Danvers'

The end of the week had come and was staring Cat square in the face while a big fat nothing burger was in the center of her desk as far as an interview with National CIty’s heroine was concerned. There had been murmurs and whispers of her appearance throughout parts of the city but nothing concrete and those who had been helped by this individual were less than forthcoming with additional information.

Cat huffed out a sigh, pushing from her desk as she made her way towards her balcony for some fresh air, letting the cold breeze settle over her skin and flutter her hair. She let her lungs fill with the crisp ambiance only to stop short when she caught the flutter of red in her periphery. Her head tipped curiously as she moved further onto the balcony, fingers touching the edge of cardstock weighted down by a polished rock.

_“Tonight. 8’o’clock._  
_Your place._  
_Hopefully_  
_\- A Friend”_

She turned the card over, seeing the barest hint of that ‘S’ she had flattened her hand across days ago emblazoned on the cardstock. She turned the card back over, scanning across the handwritten note, her chest tightening with excitement until she felt as if someone were watching her.

Kara was gently bouncing Carter, his little body pressed against her own, hands resting on her shoulders loosely while his legs dangled about. Adelaide was tucked into a beanbag chair, book opened on her lap, and mind completely engrossed in the story she was reading. Kara’s hand continued in lazy patterns across Carter’s back, his body completely relaxing into her as she strayed over to the windows.

She had already had her discussions with the trio at home, having easily overheard the buzz around CatCo concerning the glorification project Cat had them all on. How if any one of them could get even a few words in with this superhero their names would go down in journalistic history.

It had only gotten more intense as the week continued, especially when Secretary Marsden had shown up unexpectedly to speak not only with Cat concerning her brush with death and as Kara had eavesdropped, get as much information as she could from the woman concerning Kara’s alternate persona. She had also been there to talk with one Lucy Lane, or more introduce herself before Lucy was paired off with a rather imposing individual by the name of Hank Henshaw.

Their conversation she hadn’t had the opportunity to tune into due to his request that they speak off-site so that he might gain a proper military perspective from her gathered findings without the surround of civilians, especially civilians working for an ever-growing multimedia corporation.

Needless to say, Kara had grown antsier by the day, while her nightly deeds as Supergirl were done with more caution and with as little fanfare as she could muster. Despite having revealed herself to the world with saving Cat, she wasn’t so sure she was ready for the possibility that she would have to go into some kind of hiding should the government take a more vested interest in their pursuit of her.

While they hadn’t, as far as any of them could tell, it was still a very strong possibility, especially when that Henshaw individual had shown up. It was an oddity to be sure, even Astra had pointed out its confusing strategy know if they were back on Krypton and something like this had occurred there were protocols and methodologies that would have been adhered to. It left Kara with the impression that someone like her would have been for lack of a better word, hunted down and sequestered away until all their intentions were rooted out. Voluntarily or not.

Then, of course, there were the other behaviors she had been privy to at home, in the hours she was there. Alex and Astra had grown closer, which she had expected given the fact Alex was basically babysitting her Aunt, but it was different. It was like an invisible tether between them that she couldn’t source. Even Winn had pointed it out as a simple point of observation and the two had seemed to be more cognizant of one another thereafter.

Alex said it was just some unspoken understanding, the both of them serving as teacher and student dependant on the subject and that shared knowledge had merely brought the two of them to a point of mutual respect. While it wasn’t exactly a lie, neither was it the truth, as was evident by either woman’s aura when Kara was able to observe them without notice.

Winn had only seemed to expand his own avenues in helping Kara out, he was a technological genius out of sheer hobby, something about his real father being a kind of inventor and if he took nothing else from him he would be happy. It was a kind of penance. Though why Winn felt obligated to pay it versus his father was anyone’s guess but Kara seemed to understand those reasons well enough and somehow the two of them had slipped into a kind of sibling dynamic.

Which clearly served them all well enough what with all the little toys and gadgets Winn seemed to produce during the day that Kara would utilize at night or were fitted throughout her apartment and into other arena’s to aid in the protection of her dual personas. Not to mention those who were aware of them as well.

Finally, there was her and Cat.

Ever since that night, Cat had only ridden in the car with her and Carter three out of the five mornings of this week, and not a single instance home as she stayed at the office while Kara took Carter home.

Kara still brought her coffee each morning and lunches with Carter, if Cat’s time wasn’t taken up by a meeting or some other crisis she had to manage. The pair of them exchanged looks and brief touches, implied conversations to nowhere under the guise of casual chatter while weaving and avoiding one another in a kind of dance she wasn’t sure if she was leading or following along with.

Tuesday evening had been interesting, Cat had at least given her the courtesy of informing her she was coming home earlier than the night before. As a result, Kara had made it a point of setting a place at the table for the other woman. By the time Cat had walked into the door, Kara was already plating their food, taking the time to cut Carter’s up into smaller more age-appropriate portions.

Cat had stepped back into the living room after a long series of moments watching Kara accomplish said task. At the time Kara had figured Cat had just divorced herself from the idea, Lois had warned her well before now that Cat was anything but domesticated. A concept that once her brain supplied it ensured the amusement remained plastered on her face and kept a twinge of laughter brimming in her chest.

Which was how Cat had returned to her, grinning like an amused idiot, making little dinosaur noises for Carter as she took one of the bites he offered her from his fork.

“Is this a standard in your household? Sharing each other’s plates?”

“Only on finger food Fridays.”

Kara had no idea where her response had come from but she knew she had struck something the instant she said it and Cat had nearly tripped over herself on her way to her designated seat. While Kara had tried not to let her own reaction show, not at that stumble, but the fact that Cat had changed and joined them for dinner.

The entire week had played out like that, Kara leaving at a standard hour, getting Carter settled before making dinner for all of them, ready when Cat walked in the door. Where she would change, shedding her corporate skin like a snake before the three of them enjoyed their meal. It was far less constrained than when they had their lunches, which was mostly Cat making time for Carter during her day. While dinner started to feel like Cat making time for Kara.

It made her reluctant to leave until she was reminded in some shape, form or another that this woman was still scouring the planet for her other persona. That her entire team was on some kind of scavenger hunt for her and even the government was skirting about. With enough determination, she knew Cat would eventually take the reins back from her employees, and as Carter had reminded her, Cat could find anyone or anything.

So after a very late night discussion with her extended live in family, she had determined the best course of action was to seek out Cat instead of the other way around. That way there was some element of control on Kara’s behalf. She could direct and stir the conversation as needed and if nothing else Cat would have something of a story and Kara could easily fly away.

The more unexpected the better, if she were lucky it would throw Cat off enough, hence the note. She guessed Cat would tell her to take Carter for the night, citing some kind of something where he needed to be out of the house. Alex and the rest could easily manage the little boy while she took her time away to talk with Cat and would return before it got too late. By the time she dropped off Carter the next day, Cat would be sated in her curiosity, at least in the immediate moment.

Kara tipped her head back enough to survey the sleeping boy in her arms before relaxing and lifting her gaze to the window as she caught movement across the way. She continued to rub Carter’s back even as Cat caught her gaze from her place on the balcony. Kara tucked her cheek against the crown of Carter’s head, eyes never leaving Cat as she crossed the balcony closer.

Cat set herself into the crux of her balcony, the windows of Kara’s office close enough to jump to. Her private note tucked away into her back pocket as she openly watched Kara and her son swaying gently.

A part of Kara felt as if she were on display, that the panes of glass and architecture of concrete served the same function as an interrogation room in a police station might provide. Leaving one subject to go about themselves seemingly unobserved, while others were allowed to observe and scrutinize in a kind of detached voyeurism.

Except this wasn’t a one-way mirror. Not even with the reflective tint on the window panes themselves giving the illusion as such from the street below.

Kara felt her heart seize as Cat actually leaned onto the concrete railing, gaze never wavering. A part of her was suddenly very aware that Cat might be sizing her up, comparing her to her alter ego seeing through the facade. Outwardly she had the sense to offer up a small smile and realized with the delay in its return that Cat was more focused on her son than Kara. She adjusted her glasses with the curve of Carter’s sleeping shoulder, ensuring she had Cat’s fuller attention.

“You okay?” She mouthed in an exaggerated manner, the question wasn’t disingenuous, she was honestly concerned about Cat. She rarely ventured onto her balcony during the day, much less long enough to casually watch someone else in the manner she was now.

Cat drew in a slow breath, eyeing the other woman carefully as she held her son. There was a part of her that embraced the knowledge that Kara was watching her with an equal measure of intensity, so much so that she had to ask about Cat’s wellbeing. She knew her current behavior was far from the norm at work and realized only Kara would think to notice. There was also another part of her that was absolutely terrified at the feelings she had allowed herself to indulge in over the course of the week. She actually looked forward to going home, knowing through no request or designation of her own, there was something and someone waiting for her without any expectations.

She could argue it was just residual from what had happened on Monday, coupled with the stressors from work and the ordeal her lawyers were handling both on a corporate level and a personal front with Asher. Not to mention the inkling of similarity to this whole situation that nagged at the back of her mind involving Lois and Adam.

The difference this time, however, not that she was ready to admit it quite yet, even if she were thinking it, was that she genuinely found herself starting to fall for Kara. Not that she hadn't loved Lois, far from it, still did in a way. There was no way to repay the measure of Lois’ actions then or since. She had loved Lois because she was there, she was caring and supportive and someone she never should have slept with and likened it to falling in love with her. A settlement offer wrapped around An excuse to escape her own fears and family and responsibilities and to spare Lois’ feelings with their post-coital confessions.

Feelings she found out too late that the other woman had mirrored in their lack of something deeper, something they had both lied to themselves about as being that kind of love. Instead of just being truthful and laughing it off, they continued to pretend with one another and as a result, Cat had lost one of the best friendship she had ever had, as well as her son and her initial path in life.

But this was not that situation, not by any means. Nor were the stressors a viable enough reason to chalk up her current situation with Kara as just infatuation. Not with this measure of viability to signs of actual love sighted in philosophical prose that smacked her around half the time she was in Kara's presence. Even now, that small smile, coupled with the flicker of concern with her question across the space between them had her questioning her sanity given the coil of feeling clenching in her stomach and the fact she swore she could actually hear the other woman's voice when she asked it.

It was as infuriating as it was enticing.

Cat lingered in her lack of response for another moment before straightening from the concrete giving a short nod before gesticulating to the other woman that they needed to talk.

Kara drew in a deep breath, turning from the windows to gingerly set Carter into his little nap pod, tucking him in before making her way to Addie but not before pulling something out of her bag along the way. She crouched down and without word slid a small box across the page the girl was reading.

“What's that?”

“A Valentine, but you can’t open it until you get home. Ok?”

Addie looked at the box then Kara, curiosity painted across her face already wanting to open it because Kara had told her to wait. She picked up the box, turning it over before shaking it slightly, hearing nothing that would expose the object inside to her. She gave a small huff of a sigh and looked back at Kara with a hint of a pout.

“Can I open it in the car?” She tried, looking hopefully at the woman.

Kara gave her an amused smile. “Only, and I mean -only- if we go home without Ms. Grant today.”

Addie beamed, her book urged to the side as she lunged and wrapped Kara up into a tight hug. Kara hugged her back gently with a small exaggerated ‘oomph’ before they parted.

“Now, Carter’s down and I need to go see Ms. Grant-”

“Did you get her something too?”

Kara let out a small breath of a laugh, adjusting her glasses before looking at Addie in that knowing manner once more. “Sort of. But she doesn’t know and she has to wait even longer than you. So. “ Kara put a finger to her lips to indicate that this was going to be another one of their secrets to which Addie nodded.

“Do you want or need anything on my way back?”

Addie shook her head, tucking her present away into her bag beside her chair before resuming her place in her book.

“Alright, I’ll be right in her office, keep an ear out on Carter for me?”

“Of course.”

Kara booped her on the nose with a small wink before straightening and making her way out. Her movements immediately drew the attention of a few closest to her office, while others just wanted to see what this unknown confidant of their boss was going to do next. Kara knew the whispers of rumor floating around, anyone who wasn’t properly integrated in the larger crowd would always be the subject of talk.

And she wasn’t alone in those break room conversations.

Lucy Lane was an equal subject of scrutiny, especially since some of the highest orders of the current government had come through the offices this past week and sequestered her and Cat aside along with other first-hand eyewitnesses. James Olsen was another individual in question. While he mostly kept to himself and was in part a temporary adjunct to the print reporters and the newly applied magazine staff, by in large he was still considered by most to be direct competition given his current tenure with the Daily Planet in Metropolis.

Somehow the three of them had generated a kind of unholy trinity within CatCo’s employees' mindset. Each having their own level of influences and connections that benefited the company as a whole but Kara was beginning to realize the only reason they were tolerated was due in part to each of their relationships to Cat. Lately, her own reputation on that matter was preceding her and had resulted in her being the leader of this disconnected trio despite rarely if ever, interacting with Lucy or James.

Karen was currently on the phone just outside of Cat’s office, going over some kind of budget constraints that her boss had implemented sometime today as a response to the failures of her reporting staff to get any closer to an interview or even basic information concerning Kara’s other half. In all honesty, it wasn’t their fault, ever since that day her extended family seemed to wage a guerrilla campaign as far as information was concerned with any and all of her exploits.

Astra had been working with her both physically and strategically, tearing her physical reserves down to a level she hadn’t even known she could reach and still manage to push through and build her right back up. Alex kept her in check as far as levels of physical harm she could inflict on others if needed and where on a human body Kara could generate the most impact without being lethal when she could avoid it. Then there was Winn.

He had disappeared for a day and a half and just when Kara had gotten ready to go searching for him he appeared and with him a virtual arsenal of technology, a vast majority of which he himself had constructed. Now, thanks to whatever bond he had been granted when he had first encountered Astra, he had expanded into some hybrid of Kryptonian and Earthen systems that rivaled anything she or Alex was aware of.

One of the benefits of Winn’s labors for sure was the small package tucked in Adelaide’s bag currently. On the outside, it was just a simple watch, nothing spectacular, but in the right situation, or the wrong one, Adelaide could activate the watches more intricate inner workings which in turn would broadcast a distress signal only Kara or Astra could hear. Of crouse Winn had ensured it would also notify the system he was still expanding on just in case.

Combined it was a veritable arsenal of possibility and safeguards that, at the very least, gave them all a little more room to breathe for the time being. But at the same time had thwarted those under Cat’s employ, and no doubt others if she really thought to consider it.

Instead, she needed to consider the start of this next series of events, knowing the second she walked into the other woman’s office it would be a kind of countdown to their meeting tonight.

Kara gave a small smile to Karen, who paid her little to no attention until she crossed the threshold of the assistant’s eye line intent on entering Cat’s office without announcement and the woman had practically dropped the phone to try and stop her.

“It’s alright, she called me.” Kara half-mouthed, half murmured as she set her hand on the door and eased her way inside.

By now Cat was already at her desk, back to the door, taking in the wall of monitors and the programs every competitor was running she easily caught the reflection of the individual entering her office and let her initial response to anyone else's intrusion ease away. She turned just as Kara came to stand at the front of her desk.

The two of them seemed to size one another up for a moment or two before Kara raised an eyebrow and Cat allowed the barest hint of a smile to pull at the corner of her mouth.

“You wanted to see me, Ms. Grant?”

Cat let out a half a sound of amusement, shifting her jaw to hide the growth of her smile before clearing her throat.

“Do you have any plans, given the sentimentality of the day?”

Of all the questions, that hadn’t been the one Kara was expecting and it showed. She glanced around a half second before shaking her head a bit. “You’re asking if I have plans for Valentine’s Day?”

Cat nodded, seemingly detached from her question repeated back to her through Kara’s filter. She had noticed a few bouquet’s sitting on some of her employee’s desks, others with small cards or trinket’s that had been provided given the day while her office remained as it always had.

“Uhm.. n-no, aside from what I’ve been doing every night. No intended plans otherwise.”

Cat tipped her head slightly at the other woman, raking over her figure with her gaze a moment as if trying to determine something for her own benefit before she stood and eased over to her bar.

“While that sounds like a perfect evening,” Cat glanced up in the small mirrors set on the wall behind all the bottles, gauging Kara’s reaction before she continued. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask a small favor of you.”

“I see.” Kara moved from the center of Cat’s desk, coming to the corner and setting herself on its edge before crossing her arms over her chest. “Hot date?”

Cat nearly dropped the bottle she was holding, the edge of it catching the tray with a small clatter which she ignored in favor of reaching into the built-in refrigerator and grabbing a bottle of water.

“I wasn’t aware you were so intrigued.” With her turn, she tossed the thing at Kara, who caught it was a slight fumble. “If you must know, I have an interview to follow up with, given the day and how difficult it would be to get a reservation anywhere they’re meeting me at home.”

Kara nodded as if she knew the entirety of the situation Cat was laying out for her. She twisted the top off her water and took a sip as Cat continued to survey her.

“Will you call or should I just opt to keep Carter overnight? And more than half this building is intrigued, I wouldn’t discount myself from that.”

“More than half? Really.” Cat gave a few scant nods her tone disbelieving. For her own curiosity, she turned her profile towards the main floor only to watch a good complement of the people out there suddenly scramble to find something to do. It made her sigh internally while she hid her less than enthused expression behind a sip of her drink.

Kara actually smiled, emptying a small laugh into her bottle as she took another sip which caused Cat to turn back to her sharply and nearly made her choke.

“Keep him overnight, I’m not sure what to expect this evening but it serves no purpose if it runs long and Carter falls asleep at your place only to be woken back up to be brought home.”

“Slumber party it is then.” Cat cast an unamused glare in her direction which only made Kara smile again.

With a sudden determination, Cat stalked over, causing Kara’s amusement to falter as she straightened ever so slightly when the other woman invaded her personal space.

“Kara?” Cat set her stance, looking at the short distance between them then back up at the other woman expectantly.

“Yes?”

“Get your ass off my desk and go get Carter ready to take with you.”

Kara looked struck, tangled within wanting to laugh aloud, call Cat out on keeping tabs on her ass or close the distance between them. Cat must’ve recognized some of her expression as her gaze dropped to Kara’s mouth before she closed the gap between them with her glass and another sip of the dark liquid within it.

**\-------**

Hank paced within the confines of his office with a slow consideration, the others gathered there merely watching him pace about from their respective places of repose.

Certain individuals had attempted to apply pressure to bringing Kara in, thankfully Marsden, and in an unexpected turn even the President, had quelled those suggestions as they had been presented. There had been the talk of military action, ranging from a quarantine of National City in an attempt to find the woman and involuntary containment once she was properly identified to martial law and other atrocities.

The individuals behind such suggestions were still embittered at losing their core investment project with Lillian Luthor and her Cadmus division. Thankfully they were few and far in-between, but their influence was still felt.

The D.E.O. had to succeed now, had to push above the rhetoric as a means to properly set the right path for a future that was closer to reality than even a few months ago had projected. A future that needed humans and aliens to co-exist, not end up on opposing sides or worse.

Diana had suggested they begin contingency protocols regardless. Citing the possibility that Marsden or the President could be overthrown in some capacity. It wouldn’t be the first time she had seen governments and officials be undermined or completely taken out in the name of purity and human values.

While the Danvers were unaware of what had been decided on that front, they were thankful Hank and Diana had included them in the current choices regarding their daughter. In the short span of time they had been a part of this project, they had become more comfortable with Henshaw, and even Diana to a degree. Not enough to divulge the whole of their daughter’s origins, the full depth of their own knowledge concerning her planet and technology, or even bring up her cousin; but enough to have settled into the first real dependable element of trust between the four of them.

Now was no exception.

The pair were even willing to include Marsden into that confidence practically by default after having seen her tear down Generals and other officiates like a child with building blocks. However, now the issue at hand was convincing Kara to join in this, in their cause. She had already shown enough potential to help others if her deeds were any indication. As were the evasive efforts to keep herself and clearly their other daughter safe and unexposed. All without something as powerful as an organization like the D.E.O. behind her.

Then again, one of the only reasons some of those other suggestions were not a reality was due to the efforts of J’onn and Marsden with their positions. Undoubtedly they would all be locked up and secreted away never to be seen again if this Luthor and her project purveyors had gotten the green light instead It was an odd double-edged sword to be staring down but as it was here they were.

“Why can we not just talk to her?” Diana questioned, looking at the other three, even if she half knew the answer.

“Because the Luthor’s are clearly still in play, rogue as they are, and what with the recent arguments her previous benefactors towards her project versus ours, it's all the more apparent that there is no guarantee we wouldn’t be putting her or others around her in danger. Or even exposing ourselves despite how simple that could be just to ask her directly by showing up or calling her.”

“Nothing is ever simple with her.” Eliza voice with a proud air.

Hank stopped his pacing to turn his attention to Eliza before he shared a glance with Diana then looked over to Jeremiah who merely shrugged. She wasn’t wrong, that was evident now just as much as it had been when she was younger.

“Showing up at CatCo was easy, her boss was involved, Kara's connection to her is sheer coincidence. Which only complicates showing up there again and pulling her aside.” Hank offered.

“Which still puts her and others in danger, not to mention points out something rather obvious to those around her were we to do so again, even as a follow-up.” Diana replied, letting out a small sigh and easing off the wall to occupy a chair.

“Talking to those she’s been responsible for lending aid to since is proving difficult, we can’t compel people to talk to us and once they know what we’re associated with they seem to rally and fortify around protecting her from us.”

Jeremiah smirked slightly, giving his head a small shake at Hank’s assessment. “She’s practically Robin Hood.” Again the prideful tone concerning his daughter caused the other two to look at him before he shrugged. “What? So she’s not robbing the rich and giving to the poor, but she’s providing that whole hope thing you were striving for. It’s just being cultivated from a different perspective than you anticipated.”

“This still doesn’t answer how we get her here, willingly and not under duress or even warn her about other things that while in our periphery as being a concern are nowhere near her consideration right now.” Hank moved to sit on top of his desk, arms still crossed over his chest.

“We could do it.” Eliza piped up, causing the other three to look at her. “If we do it right, not by calling or compromising her home or her job or those around her. If she’s helping people at night, then she’s bound to be doing some kind of scouting or patrolling. She used to do something similar when she was younger.”

“You don’t think that’s kind of the opposite of having her come here without being under duress?”

“As I said, not if we do it right.” Eliza looked to Jeremiah, waiting for him to catch on.

“That's still a big risk.” He stated, though by his tone he was considering it

“Do you intend on expanding this theory with the rest of the class or?”

Eliza glanced at Hank then back to Jeremiah.

“It would have to be short range, and high, enough for her to intercept in flight but not catch the attention of anyone who might be trying to listen in.” He glanced at Diana and Hank. “ And it would have to come from us. Otherwise, she won't trust it and more than likely reason it to be a trap or something.”

Hank looked at them both down the bridge of his nose, the pair of them looking just as serious as they were innocent of his non-verbal implication. He lingered on the pair of them before glancing over to Diana who gave a small tip of her head coupled with a minute shrug of one shoulder.

“What did you have in mind?”

**\-------**

Kara stretched her fingers into the depths of her gloves, fitting her fingers together into a combined fist to secure them in place before stretching her body to acclimate herself within it.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” Alex questioned one more time, thankfully Astra and Winn were on Carter duty for the time being to keep him distracted. Not that there was much concern for the three-year-old and him seeing her in her suit but one never knew what might come out from his mouth.

“Little late now,” Kara offered, coming to stand in front of her sister directly before putting her hands on the woman’s shoulders. “If I don’t do it this way, she won’t stop, and now she has an arsenal behind her and limitless funds.”

“So why not just -tell- her then?”

Kara let out a dark sigh, she had considered that Rao knew she had almost let her abilities slip enough around Cat. Just as she was about to answer the two of them heard a peal of laughter from the other room.

With it Alex let out her own sigh, gently punching the sigil across Kara’s chest.

“Alright, valid reason. For now. Maybe.” Alex felt Kara squeeze her shoulders gently before pulling her into a hug.

“The more people who really know, the more dangerous this is going to get.”

Alex hugged her sister tighter, lifting her chin to press into Kara’s shoulder. “So many already do, I’m already worried about how dangerous it is, and how much more we’re unaware of that _it_ is.”

“Which is why, despite the few outside our family that knows, adding more, especially with someone like Cat. It, it’s not that I don’t trust her, far from it, but it’s already been so much of a burden-”

“You were never a burden Kara.”

The other woman smirked, leaning back from her sibling to look at her for a moment.

“Gee, thanks, Mom.”

Alex pushed her with a small laugh.

“Get going, else you’ll be late and I can only imagine what that woman would say about you concerning punctuality.”

“Funny.” Kara pulled up her mask from its hidden place within her collar and headed for the windows. “Don’t wait up.” 


	26. Valentine's Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat gets her interview with Supergirl and much more

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, brief allusions to 9/11 lie within this chapter

Cat moved throughout her home intent on a final once over.  Each common room was already set with a mood of lighting on the plausibility they drift into them during the progression of this encounter.  Her journey ending on the top floor, generous french-doors open to the evening air despite the chill.  The balcony was lit up the brightest, the outdoor furniture pre-set for two, replete with a hefty bottle of wine nestled in ice within a large silver container at the center.

Cat lingered in front of her mirror, fingers edging through her hair one final time before she examined her outfit. This was her first real impression, and with it, she hoped it would expunge the original impression she had instated with her rescuer earlier this week. Thankfully, while she was still sore in more places than she cared to admit, her still recovering bruises were hidden from view and her hands were a subdued tinge of pink versus the angry red they had been.

She gave herself a final once over before stepping out onto her balcony and looking skyward only to hesitate in her steps.

Floating soundlessly above the edge line of her balcony was her equivocal heroine.  Her cape rippled out behind her while her suit practically blended in with the evening sky.  Her arms were by her sides, like the resting position of a prima ballerina, one leg bent, foot resting above her opposite ankle, no doubt as some kind of balance in order to hold the anti-gravitational pose.

“Good Evening Ms. Grant.”

Cat looked bemused, a smile curling at the edges of her mouth around a soundless laugh.

“Evening.”

She descended effortlessly on the ledge of the balcony, arms coming to cross over her chest as she glanced over the space and its intimate ambiance, coupled with Cat’s nature of dress and overall eventide look in comparison to how Kara had left her at CatCo hours ago.

“I’m sorry did you have plans for this evening?”  

Cat looked puzzled for a minute, glancing down to herself then over to the table nearby and how she had prepared the space.

“Wha-”

“I should have remembered it is an earthen holiday.”

“Valentine’s... No I-”

“Listen,” Supergirl began, arms uncrossing as she motioned towards the table. “It’s no trouble at all for me to-”  
  
“No!” Cat advanced forward, noticing the other woman displace her weight as if to turn and fly off.

“-come back later.” As they talked over one another Cat rushed closer, prompting Supergirl to still despite her contrarily flippant stance on the matter. “Don’t move!”

Supergirl tilted her head slightly, hiking an eyebrow at the woman who was a few strides from being able to touch her.

Cat pushed down her nerves, wondering where her bout of anxiousness had evolved from, or maybe that was excitement and the perception of this opportunity slipping through her fingers due to some misunderstanding.  With the other woman’s half-visible expression she couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at her own absurd behavior.  It was like she was a rookie reporter with their first big lead.

“Y- you can move, just, just don’t fly away. Alright?”

Kara grinned beneath her mask, stepping off the ledge and drifting to the solid ground of the balcony itself, closing the distance separating them.

“Sorry to just drop in on you like this Ms. Grant,” She squared her shoulders, feeling the pull of her suit like a second skin as she passed the other woman within a few paces. “I was thinking, after earlier this week, there must be a lot of questions that people of the world would like the answers to-”

“Oh.” Cat had been a little too focused on the fit of the other woman’s suit, the way its surface looked like living scales and reinforced armor and how her cape fluttered behind her as if it had a mind of its own. Only to realize the other woman was less than a few steps from her. “Yes... I-”

“And then I heard..” Kara interrupted, turning on her heel only to have to reach for Cat who nearly smacked into her in her haste to get back to the table for her recorder.

The two of them lingered like that, Supergirl’s hands around Cat’s biceps, the other woman’s weight, and balance, entirely set in her grasp while Cat’s hands were fanned out across her abdomen.  Cat swallowed visibly, her hands impossibly warm and it wasn’t until the wall beneath her fingers actually moved with Supergirl’s ghost of a laugh that she understood that this was not body armor she was handling.  

Cat felt her eyes widen, her fingers contracting with uncontrolled interest to which Supergirl accommodated by flexing the muscles there, prompting the other woman to suck in a gasp and instantly find someplace else to put her hands.  Discovering no better place than around Supergirl’s elbows before she squared her posture and let go.

“H-heard,” Cat cleared her throat softly. “What exactly?”

Supergirl relaxed her grip, taking a step back to give Cat more air to breathe for a second.

“You’ve been looking for me.”

“Everyone’s been looking for you.”

“You put a bounty out on me?”

“Your picture.”

Supergirl mm’d with a small nod, hands relaxing behind her back as she rounded the woman with her own level of curiosity.

“Sent half of your employees after me.”

“After... No. Not _after_ you just for-”

“Information.”

“Answers.”  Cat appealed, following Supergirl in her circle.

“I see.”  She halted in her steps, rocking up on her toes a bit and making Cat tense slightly. “Good thing I found you then.”

Cat looked half taken aback, eyeing the other woman before passing to the table, dragging the bottle out of ice and pulling off the top with a small pop of a sound, filling up a glass for herself.

“Would you like a drink?”

“No thank you.  I never drink when I fly.”   Supergirl moved beyond the table, and Cat, proceeding to linger just along the threshold of the french doors and inspect the interior of the bedroom. “Nice place, from what I can see of course.”

“Thank you.” Cat had already downed her own half glass of wine, leaving it and the bottle to the table as she snagged her digital recorder. “Do you mind if I record this?”

Supergirl aimed her features to look at Cat over her shoulder, eyeing the device in question before elevating her gaze back up and rotating around completely.

“I suppose not.”  

Cat straightened gradually as Supergirl filled the space between them again.  

“If it’s an issue-”

“That will no doubt depend on you, in the long run, Ms. Grant.”

Cat’s brow furrowed somewhat, not sure precisely what the other woman was inferring only to have her attention on the matter hauled aside as Supergirl leaned closer to her, stretching just past her hip and dragging a chair out for her with a sparse scrape.

“Shall we?” Supergirl endeavored, motioning to the chair which Cat nearly turned into her again to stare at.

“Wh- ye... I mean please just sit, there.” Cat designated the opposite chair as she pressed record and set the gadget on the table, busying herself with her own seat.

Supergirl hid her smile behind her mask, slipping away from the other woman and edging into her seat, sweeping her cape aside to lay over the arm of her chair instead of sitting on its length.  Cat shifted the position of her own seat, aiming away from the table and closer to the suited woman.

“Let’s start with the generals, are you married?”

Supergirl actually laughed, full and open, stretching her mask from the action as she shook her head. “Not the first question I would have expected.” She cleared her throat of its lingering amusement. “No. I’m not.”

Cat followed the shake of her head as Supergirl replied before giving a small nod. “Are you currently in a relationship?”

Supergirl shifted her eyebrows in scrutiny of the questions being asked of her, wondering why _this_ was the measure of inquiries Cat had drafted. She hmm’d with skepticism and pushed a little straighter in her chair. “Uh, no, I’m not, but if I were Ms. Grant, you’d be the first to know.”

Cat’s gaze leveled on Supergirl and the innuendos lilt to her tone, not sure where to go with the whole of the response before giving another small nod coupled with her own ghost of a smile.

“Alright, how old are you?”

Supergirl side eyed the question for a moment, stirring in her seat enough to cross one leg over the other. “Over twenty-one.”

It was Cat’s turn to laugh, soft and breathy at the woman’s response before understanding hit her.

“I get it, you don’t want anyone to know how. Got it.” Supergirl nodded, giving a small point to the air to further Cat’s assumption. “How big are you?” Supergirl arced a high eyebrow at that one, gaze flickering downward to her own chest before Cat corrected herself hastily. “How tall are you?”

“About six feet.”

“Right then, uh, about how much do you weight?”

“Mmm..” Supergirl tilted her head to the side a bit in apparent contemplation. “Bout one fifty, one seventy-five.” She nodded as if that sounded good enough.

“One.. seventy...five..?” Cat’s tone was of amused suspicion. If the pull of the woman’s suit was any indicator, she would put an extra ten pounds of muscle on that estimation.  She scrutinized Supergirl a moment, who gave a half shrug of one shoulder, the resulting smile already pulling at Cat’s lips as the two exchanged gazes.  “Mmhmm... Well, I assume then, that the rest of your bodily functions are normal?”

Supergirl sat there a moment, not entirely sure she understood the nature of the question and bent forward a bit. “Sorry, beg your pardon?”

“Putting it delicately,” Cat licked her lips absently.  “Do you,” her gaze strayed lower as Supergirl leaned in closer, eyes traveling over the suit and leveling on the sigil at Supergirl’s chest before rearing her gaze back up.  “Eat?”

“Uh, yes, yes I do.” Supergirl nodded a bit, the urge to laugh again pulling at her throat. “When I’m hungry.”  Which was genuine enough, even if it wasn’t required for her to truly do so within any correlation to human necessities.

“You do... Of course, you do, uh... I would you, are you hungry now I-”

“It’s quite alright unless you haven’t, don’t let me keep you from-”

“NO, no, I just I didn’t know how long this would end up being and I prefer in instances like this to provide dinner, drinks, create a comfortable atmosphere.”

“Mm..” Supergirl nodded, it wasn’t a faulty tactic, smooth over any apprehension or nervousness through food and build a little bridge of trust before asking intimate questions.  Add in a few drinks for most people and a bit of ostensibly agreeable company and one might let anything spill.

“I’ll consider it, perhaps with a second interview.”

Cat straightened imperceptibly at that, the wheels in her mind already turning with the suggestion and as a consequence, completely missed Supergirl’s actions as she rose and walked away from the table to look at the skyline.  Supergirl narrowed her eyes imperceptibly, sharpening her hearing for a moment to ensure she wasn’t needed despite the slight undertone of a noise she thought she heard.

“Do you sleep?” Cat turned in her chair, watching the other woman as her cape waved and her shoulders seemed to broaden as she gazed skyward.  With the subject of her next question, she saw that confident line falter, shoulders sloping forward and head leveling out.   Cat knew instantly she had hit on something, what, she didn’t know, but hoped she would find out.

“It’s a learned habit.”  Supergirl eventually relented after a weighted moment of silence.  Which again was not an untruth, she didn’t sleep for the longest time after she arrived on Earth.  Stuck in your own mind, in your dreams, for nearly fifteen years can do that to a person. She didn’t even want to know how many years she had consumed navigating her way just beyond the nightmares.  

“Interesting. So you don’t require it?” Cat asked and Supergirl knew she was much closer than she had been prior.

“Not in the way you do.” Supergirl turned then, her small smile evident along the corners of her eyes. “But it has its merits nonetheless.”  

Cat nodded, aspiring to see the depths of what the other woman was feeling, what memories she had usurped with her question before Supergirl winked and stepped aside.

“Is it true?” Cat watched her slow in her steps as she rounded a planter, gloved fingertips outlining the boundaries of an efflorescence of flowers struggling against the crispness of the air to blossom. “That you can see through anything?”

“Yes I can,” Supergirl glanced up then, watching Cat maneuver herself opposite the planter and never looking away.  “Well pretty much.”

“And that you’re totally impervious to pain?”  

“So far.”  

The tease was back in Supergirl’s tone, and despite how hard she might try to fight it, Cat felt its influence surge through her body on the throb of her heartbeat.  She held her hands up then, part of her wondering if her sudden bold idea was a result of some ability the other woman had as yet to mention.

“What color underwear am I wearing?”

Supergirl squared up a bit, displacing her stance as she gazed down, only to find a void in the space she was venturing to see through. “Hmm..”

The amusement evaporated from Cat’s features then, seeing the magnitude of concentration on the other woman’s countenance, what little she could see, united with her absence of a response.

“Oh..I, I’m sorry I embarrassed you didn’t I?”

Supergirl raised her head instantly, nictitating her vision back to normal. “No.. oh no.” When Cat began to explain herself Supergirl barreled through. “No Ms. Grant it’s just that this planter must be made of lead.”

Cat stared down between them, brow corrugating. “Yes, it is. So?”

“Well, you see I uh, I sort of have a problem, seeing through lead.”

Cat inclined her head, studying the other woman a second and nodding, appearing almost apologetic. “Wh-That’s interesting... “  She cleared her throat slightly, turning to make her way back to the table.  “Do, do you have a name?”

“You mean like Jane or something?”

“No, what do-”

“Red.”

Cat turned, confused as she nabbed the recorder, intent on bringing it closer to their conversation. “Your name is Red?”

Supergirl let her eyes drop, “Red.” She bowed her head just a touch in that downward direction while raising her eyebrows for emphasis before rocking back on her heels as she averted her eyes back up to Cat's. The woman let out a low laugh, gradually making her way back to where she had been before with the planter between them once more.

“Sorry Ms.Grant, I didn’t mean to embarrass you, although you did ask.”

“Right, you didn’t.”  Cat fussed with her bottom lip a bit before eyeing the other woman in her contemplation. “What do I, we, people call you?” Supergirl took in a deeper breath, straining the sigil on her chest as she reciprocated the observation with one of her own.

“Supergirl.”

Cat rose a high brow. “Super..girl?”

She nodded with reverence.  “Might not have been what I would have chosen initially, but, I consider it a gift.”

“A gift?”

“From an especially important person I saved.”

“Not Superwoman?”

Supergirl mm’d in an amused resonance before shaking her head.  “While it fits, as I said, it was a gift and I’ve accepted it humbly.”

“Is that what the ‘s’ stands for?”

“It’s not an ‘S'. It stands for hope. It’s my family’s coat of arms, the House of Light”  She looked down, watching Cat’s fingers start to stretch as if to reach out and trace over it only to stop herself abruptly.  “Translated from my language, more literally it means ‘of the Star’.”

“I see. So you are Supergirl of the House of Light or Supergirl of the Star...bringer of Hope? A bit long-winded either way.”

Supergirl chuckled.  “As I said, that is a literal translation of my family name, the motto is more along the line of what you would find more suitable for the purpose of this interview.”

“And that motto is?”

“El Mayara.”  

Cat appeared distracted for a moment as if striving to place the words, her expression suggesting as if she knew them or at least the sound of them.  Like one would upon hearing another language and being able to distinguish its origin like Spanish or French without truly understanding the words themselves.

Supergirl pulled in a fleeting breath, the comprehension of her slight lapse compelling her to clarify. “Stronger together.”  
  
Cat toyed with her hair a second analyzing the other woman with deliberate consideration, "I see.”  She leaned into the planter between them after another significant pause. “So you’ve saved others? How many?”

“One is enough.”  Supergirl stepped around the planter, bringing them within the same shared space once more. “Wouldn't you agree?”

Cat swallowed thickly, the reverence within the other woman's tone tugging at her spine. She closed her eyes to the unexpected vision of her hands slipping from the grasp of her seatbelt within her mind's eye.  Her breath caught when she felt the gravity of fingertips stroking the side of her face. Even gloved they felt impossibly naked and warm.

“This… this isn't about me.” Cat murmured, opening her eyes then and staring up at the other woman. Her own hand lifting to permeate between Supergirl's fingers against her skin.

“Right.” She squeezed Cat's digits tenderly before extracting her touch. “This is about you getting to know me.”

“Not just me.” Cat provided, albeit on the verge of disappointment. “This city, the whole world.”

“What if I don't want that?”

Cat actually laughed on the back of a kind of somber recognition. “Then you shouldn't have come here when you did.”

“I’ve been here for years.”

Cat nearly dropped the recorder in her haste to pause it. “You can't say that.” Supergirl seemed thoroughly perplexed and Cat advanced closer. Her tone relatively harsh. “People are going to wonder, to question, maybe even use that to turn the world against you.” Cat was noticeably upset, memories racing through her brain, stoking her accusatory pitch.  “Where were you, before that explosion? When fires tore through the state? The earthquake a year ago?" 

Cat's questions were unrelenting in their rapid fire, emotion turning her eyes to glass as they ran ahead of her unchecked and culminated into her last Inquisition. 

"Where were you, three years ago in New York?!”

“Don’t you think I tried?!”  Cat tensed with the other woman’s outburst, immediately seeing the toll of something equivalently as traumatic in memory ensnaring Supergirl's entire body before she brushed past her, headed for the balcony railing.  

“Don’t…" Cat pleaded, reigning herself in. "Fly away...” She struggled to say more only to permit her words to fade at the sight of the other woman.

Supergirl set her arms on the rails, expelling a profound exhale of defeat as she sank into the support of her forearms.  Cat studied her scrupulously, seeing the influence of what she could only conclude as the other woman's humanity collapsing in on her.

Supergirl remembered that day, she had been in the fortress and ultimately held there against her will all due to some lesson her Uncle commanded she come to understand.  By the time she was permitted to leave, it was too late.  She had tried to volunteer, to help where and when she could, she hid in the shadows of night and tried to find those only she could still hear, clear debris, rebuild and stabilize things all without getting caught. Always wondering what if she had just been there, if she had just stayed home instead and never left.  The nightmares reappeared with a vengeance after that, as did the finalization of her choice not to take on the mantle she paraded around in presently. As that revelation descended on her, she wasn't sure how or even what to feel now given her turn of heart on the matter.

Cat moved up alongside the other woman after recovering her own composure, settling her hip against the stone, framing Supergirl in profile to her. She reached over, committed to sweeping back the drape of hair obscuring her appearance only to have her wrist grabbed up in a blink although Supergirl's head never turned to look at her.

“It.. it's ok.” Cat said confidently, feeling that grip slacken, though not entirely drift away. Cat urged against it, following through with her predetermined motion, the fingers encompassing her wrist slipping free as Cat brought her hair back and draped over it her shoulder. “That was... rude of me.”

“It's a very logical argument to make.” Supergirl's voice was rougher as if she were vocalizing directly from her chest.

“You weren't ready then, were you?” Supergirl’s response was a benumbed laugh. “You _have_ been here a bit then to feel that responsible” Cat elevated her attention to National City's skyline. “No one was ready for _that_.”

“You lost someone. Didn't you?” It was more of a declaration than a question, the certainty of which painting itself across Cat's features only served to burden her heart moreover.

“Yes,” Cat revealed, still browsing over the skies as she evoked Carter’s father, drawing a breath as if pulling in his ghost and holding it within herself for a short run of heartbeats only to release it out with her exhale as she returned her attentiveness back to Supergirl. “But that is not your fault. I didn't mean-”

“I know,” Supergirl glanced over at Cat then, “nor did I.” Genuine repentance settled into her eyes along with promises Cat knew this woman couldn't possibly satisfy.

“I, have more questions, but I would understand if you don't want to continue.”

Supergirl unfolded herself gradually, scanning over Cat's frame before turning in the opposing direction.  Cat let out a slow exhale, turning her recorder over in her hands. She knew she had enough to stretch but none of the more lingering questions she knew people would want answers to, just as much as she wanted them. Her gaze lifted once more, watching Supergirl circle the center of her balcony only to let out a small shout of surprise.

Two whitish blue beams erupted from the other woman’s face, spontaneously igniting the recessed hearth to life. Cat stood wide-eyed and awestruck as she watched Supergirl's eyes fade to a warmer orange around the sockets before draining of that light completely. She leaned over slightly, emitting small volleys of air to kindle the fire before straightening.

Cat was beside herself, already having started in that direction, heart racing. As if flying wasn't a reality check that this woman was not exactly human despite how she resembled one, laser vision was something else entirely. While it frightened a part of her, it also kick-started her voracious curiosity with retribution.

“What was THAT?!”

“One of many skills. Heat vision is the best way to explain it, while simultaneously undermining its capabilities I suppose.” Supergirl carried a chair closer, signaling for Cat to sit within its confines. “You have more questions, I may have the answers, but even without powers, I can see you're getting cold.”

Cat looked at her, then the flames, then back again before acceding to the chair.

“Are you alright, Ms. Grant?”

The woman swayed her head a bit, then bounced it once vaguely. “You're really not from here, Earth here ar-are you?”

Supergirl stepped around then, carrying her own chair closer and relaxing into it before reaching across and arranging her hands over Cat's barely trembling ones while also pressing the pause key to start the recording once more. She waited until the other woman seemed to still, from the warmth she was providing or something else she wouldn't speculate just yet.

“No, I’m not from Earth. Not even the same galaxy. I'm from a planet called Krypton.”

Cat swallowed, feeling warmer both inside and out before the woman’s hands slipped away. “Yes, Crypton..Cee-are-why-”

“Kay-are-why…pee-tee-oh-ehn. ”

“K..kay-are-why- o-of course. Krypton.”

Supergirl moved closer, leaning in before pointing out towards the sky.. “See there, just beyond that bright star… that red speck?”

Cat held her breath at the nearness of the other woman, eyes trailed her arm out and up, narrowing ever so before she pulled in more air. “I see it.”

Supergirl smiled wistfully. “In a few months, you’ll be able to see its destruction.”  Cat twisted away from the sky abruptly, nose grazing Supergirl's cheek while the other woman tilted back, half turning to observe the woman. “Not as first hand as when my parents put me in a pod and sent me here but-”

“I...I’m so sorry,” Cat whispered, glancing at the mask disguising so much while wondering if it felt just as bare as Supergirl's fingers had were she to feel it.  Supergirl pitched closer, close enough for them to partake the same breath before closing her eyes and drawing back. Cat pursued her regardless, a hand catching the other woman's jawline to still her retreat. She discovered immediately how warm that mask was with her touch, although it was not as tangible as other portions that suit had exhibited against her fingers beforehand. 

Pale eyes leveled at her, half anticipating Cat to close the distance, only to sense the modest rub of her thumb across the border of her mask.  A part of her worried that it was going to be dragged down, although she wasn't convinced she would prevent it from occurring.

“Why?” Cat whispered as Supergirl leaned her features farther into Cat's exploratory caress with her question.

“What?” Even her own voice sounded loud to her ears despite knowing she had whispered back. Supergirl straightened as Cat edged closer, both hands resting against the thin boundary of her half-mask before fingers dispersed over its expanse.

“This.” Cat's thumbs advanced inward against the sides of Supergirl's nose, manipulating the tensile strength of the material while she was permitted to.

“Mmm, you're very tactile. I hadn't anticipated that.” It was Cat's turn to incline her head in wonder, watching the mask move as Supergirl conversed behind it, sensing the pressure of her breath as she spoke through it and the heat of her skin beyond it, all while procuring a feel for the contour of her features.  

“I imagine most people would be, what with a masked caped crusader in their midst.”

“Most people would not be allowed to do what I’m letting you do right now, Cat.”

“But you are.”  Supergirl nodded once, forcing the edge of the mask an inkling higher under Cat’s fingers.  “I’m trusting you.”  

The authority of those words made Cat still effectively, hitting her chest like a wrecking ball as she lifted her eyes upward from the object against her hands. She felt the air around her fingertips cool as Supergirl took a breath, thumbs drifting further inward to run over the other woman’s mouth with a firm pressure.

“Do you like, red?”  Cat swallowed the question, feeling the heat of the other woman’s exhale over her skin, coupled with the slight twitch of the swell beneath the pad of her thumb towards a smile.

“I like red very much Cat.” She lifted an eyebrow briefly, mouth remaining slightly parted.

“Why..are you?”

Supergirl’s features fluttered again, trying to understand the question. “Sorry?”

“I mean why are you here? There must be a reason for you to be here. What’s your-your purpose.”

“Hope, Help, and Compassion for all.”

Cat couldn’t restrain the laugh that broke free of her. “You're gonna end up fighting every elected official in this country!” Cat scoffed, nudging Supergirl's features with a gentle playfulness before she finally let go of her.

“On some things most likely, on others, their duties are even more important than my own. But that's why they're politicians and sometimes heroes all by themselves. Though I’m sure you don’t really mean that Cat.”

“So you have an interest in government policy, are you affiliated with any party?”

Supergirl snickered gently. “Democracy, for the people, by the people and all that? It's important and interesting, despite the primitive nature of other forms of government invoked by other countries and this one at times.”

“Are you saying your way is better?”

“If it were better, I would not be here now. I would say different, mixed. It is something I believe in, but not its corruptive elements. Although it would seem no government is really free of that.”

Cat shook her head slightly, setting back into her chair while inspecting the other woman who merely raised an eyebrow at her as she readied herself for the next question. 

“How do you fly?”

Supergirl hm’d genuinely, considering the woman across from her for a string of heartbeats all her own while trying to determine the best explanation to present.  

“The gravity on Earth is, a lot less dense than that of Krypton.”

“Like walking on the moon is to here?”

Supergirl tilted her head this way in that in partial agreement. “In a way, the lack of gravitational pull, by comparison, helps but that’s not exactly correct.  With your astronauts, without weight in their boots were they to jump on the moon they would continue into the vastness of space endlessly.” She read Cat’s features to confirm she was explaining it as plainly as she could manage. “The difference is I can alter that field of gravity.”

“How fast?”

“Pardon?”

“How fast are you?”

“I… don’t know really, I never really found the opportunity to time myself.”

“A shame.”

Supergirl smiled confidently behind her mask with the sentiment from the other woman. “Want to find out?”

Cat let out her own amused whiff of a laugh, bending forward in her chair. “How do you propose we do that?”

Supergirl stood then, enticing Cat’s gaze all the way up before holding out a hand. “Come take a ride with me?”

“You’re joking.”

Supergirl tipped her head nonchalantly, hand still outstretched.

“You’re not joking.”

“Flying is one of the safest ways to travel.”  Cat’s expression fell into incredulity before Supergirl winked. “Even more so with me.”

“I.. it’s... A jacket.”

Supergirl put her other hand behind the small of her back, dipping chivalrously. “You’ll be warm enough, I promise.”

Cat swallowed visibly, rummaging through the other woman’s eyes for any doubt or prevarication before sliding her hand into Supergirl’s own. The woman leveled with her, helping Cat from the chair and walking back, leading her along the balcony like one would a dancing partner.  Even so much as twirling her around in a relaxed half-circle so that they were facing the same direction.  

“You should leave your shoes,” Supergirl whispered, hand still holding onto Cat’s as she used her as an anchor to shift her weight and step out of the specified objects. If she leaned her head back she could almost set her own against the top of Cat’s head and the other woman must have guessed as much as she pushed up a little on the balls of her feet.

Supergirl moved steadily, her other hand enveloping Cat’s hip, the toe of one boot nestled between the woman’s heels as she brought them closer together with a keen intake of breath from Cat herself.  She gave a small squeeze of reassurance to their still entwined hands before pushing up to a point on her feet and off the ground thereafter.

Cat’s embrace tightened fiercely as gravity made itself known against her body only to be challenged and defied as the pair rose higher.  Supergirl extended their clasped hands ahead, directing them to the side in a gentle slope away from the city while pulling Cat closer to her body as the woman held her breath.

She accelerated the speed of their ascent, wind whipping around their bodies while creating a small cushion of air around them so the view wouldn’t be obscured.  They hit a point of weightlessness for a heartbeat before they vaulted downward, almost free falling without the force of gravity and velocity one would commonly endure had they jumped from a plane.

The water along the coast rushed up to meet them, the calm water unveiling their reflections like a mirror that Cat couldn’t take her eyes from as they flew close enough to stir the reflective surface until she felt the minute fluctuations around Supergirl’s hips as they elevated away once more.  National City’s Infinity Bay Bridge was quick to meet them, its amber lights building a corona around the water, sparkling with rubies and diamonds in the form of car lights.

Supergirl circled them beneath it, twirling around gradually as she ascended higher and higher in the night sky transversing through a haze of clouds blanketing the city.  Cat could feel the moisture inundating her within the density of the grey din, the sensations enveloping her body drawing a similarity to moving through ocean water. There was a modicum of pressure, coupled with the atmosphere and a kind of weightlessness as if she were literally swimming through the air until they tore free into clear skies.

Their ascension stalled to a glacial pace, the faint spiral of their bodies maintained as a simple afterthought on Supergirl's behalf. The moon was clear, shining off the fleece of clouds beneath them.  Cat's heart raced as if threatening to escape the cage of her ribs, entangled with the charge of adrenaline that was radically divergent from any ones she had encountered prior in her life. It snuck up on her unexpectedly, tugging at the corners of her mouth and rendering her virtually euphoric.

With a smile that touched her eyes, Supergirl relaxed her hold on Cat’s waistline, feeling both of the woman's hands clasp around her neck on instinct as she skimmed one arm up near Cat’s shoulders and migrated down around her bicep firmly. Glancing over, she gestured for Cat to emulate her own posture, casting her opposite arm out to the side for emphasis.

Cat flexed her hold, testing their connection before tentatively adjusting her grip until she was secure with one hand around Supergirl’s bicep and the other clinging to her forearm.  She looked down for an apprehensive second before her right hand slid down the other woman's wrist and squeezed one final time before she thrust her arm out to the side.

The pair of them wobbled slightly, the influence of Supergirl’s fingers adjusting her position, along with a subtly placed heel from her boot against Cat’s ankle to set her legs before they were both in the same pose, arms extended and soaring through the skies like one would in a dream.

Cat laughed audibly on the echo of a shout declaring her enthusiasm. She stretched her grip to its limits with her eagerness, nothing but each other's fingertips keeping them together. With an edgeways glance she saw Supergirl looking away and for whatever reason, be it adrenaline or exoticism or God only knew what, she let go.

She plunged sharply, feeling the blow of air as Supergirl attempted to grab her, and missed.  Her heart seized for a moment, pressuring her to scream as she righted her position as much as she was capable of in her free fall while the earth rushed to meet up with her.  Gravity was in full force, tangling her hair and clawing at her attire as she sucked in a breath to consume the vocalization of her panic, suddenly terrified this caped champion wasn't _that_ fast.

No sooner did she have the thought the lights below blacked out in the contour of another person underneath her. Supergirl was on her back, cape fitted around her as she deliberately harmonized with Cat's velocity until their bodies grazed flush against one another.  Her hands smoothed across Cat's waist before the pair of them slowed and Cat's entire weight drove adamantly into the other woman before their trajectory equalized and decelerated.  

Supergirl cruised upsidedown, while Cat allowed her body to relax, hands flattened against the heat of that noble sigil as they dipped low into the city, flying less than a hundred feet over the nightlife there.  With another laugh they turned in a broad arc, bending between buildings as several cars started to honk. Supergirl spiraled casually, circumnavigating along the silhouette of the other woman's building. CatCo's illustrious neon bathing them in a ghostly blue light as they rose facing it and higher, gliding back into the sky beyond.

Supergirl displaced Cat’s weight once they were of an adequate height rounding her off her own hip to ‘stand’ in front of her. Cat’s hands surrounded her biceps tightly, fingers kneading at the curl of muscle while Supergirl made sure her feet were just beneath Cat’s own for support.

“Listen…” Supergirl murmured as Cat let herself settle, her hold relaxing moderately on Supergirl’s arms while the woman sustained Cat's balance in order to permit her to stand properly, their feet whisking across the cloud peaks easily. With the instruction, Cat tipped her chin up slightly, straining to pinpoint whatever it was that Supergirl was attempting to point out.

“What do you hear?” The wind ebbed around them, surrounding the pair in a soothing murmuration of white noise.  Supergirl’s features deflected down and away just as the clouds separated beneath them.  With the division of that sheath, the whole of National City was visible far below them bracketed with adjoining cities and peripheral fields of light like stars unveiled for countless miles.

“Nothing,” Cat stated with the passing of heartbeats connecting them, eyes tracked the woman’s sigil up to her throat and across the unguarded profile of her features.

“I hear everything.” Her tone was reverent, laced with a withdrawn melancholy before she redirected her concentration back to Cat entirely.  

It was Cat's turn to survey the world below, wondering how one could handle that regularly without going absolutely insane. It also pushed home another point, with all these endowments, what could this woman possibly be capable of were she compromised or not in command of herself. Or worse yet, if she were wilfully antipathetic to humanity.

“I’ll take you back home now.”

Cat stared back to the other woman, wondering if she had discovered her wayward thoughts before agreeing soundlessly, she edged her hands inward from those strong arms, smoothing over the channels of Supergirl's ribs and around that cage completely. Her last considerations lingering even as she tucked herself closer, converging on the powerful heartbeat near her ear to try and drown it out, soaking in the warmth of the other woman as Supergirl's chin nuzzled against the crown of her head for an impossible second before she felt their velocity increase.

Before she knew it they were descending like feathers in the still air. Supergirl's boots touched first, guiding them down to the ground with no more pressure than one would have rocking back on their heels.  Cat raised her features, arms still around Supergirl's body as the other woman tilted her chin down to look right back. She freed one arm between them, impetuously reaching up to hook her fingers against the edge of Supergirl's mask, making a trenchant display of closing her eyes before endeavoring to pry the veil down.

Supergirl reached up, gloved fingers fitting between Cat’s own, not to hinder her but to release the locking mechanism. 

Cat pulled that veil past her chin with its sudden freedom, twisting it within her fingers, nose stroking across the other woman's as she pushed up and caught Supergirl's mouth with her own in the span of a breath. The kiss itself was tentative, not exactly chaste but not flush with unbridled passion either. 

Supergirl kissed her back tenderly, arms just beginning to tighten, the fervor in her chest spreading like wildfire when she sucked Cat's bottom lip between the pressure of her teeth and barest flutter of her tongue as Cat dipped her head down and broke away.

She wasn't sure what had happened, at the last second she felt Cat tense as if to surge up into her and the next second they were apart. Cat's hands fanned over her chest, forehead dropping between them enough to rock them both. Supergirl reaffixed her mask almost as an afterthought, fingers of both hands filtering through Cat's hair right after.

“I'm… sorry, I… that-”

“Don't apologize.” Cat nudged her chest with a faint groan before lifting her features hesitantly, an odd sense of relief filling her upon seeing the mask back in place. Supergirl searched Cat’s expression for some kind of understanding only to be silenced with the woman's fingers against her mouth over the veil.

“I... wanted to,” Cat started, tracking the parted swells beneath her touch, thumb pressing against the other woman's bottom lip ardourously. “Say thank you.”

“But?”

Cat shook her head a bit. “I shouldn't be thinking of someone else while trying to.”

Supergirl felt the ground leave her and Cat actually stepped back apologetically. How she managed to stay composed was Rao's doing. Had to be. She squared her shoulders, watching this sudden epiphany ripple through Cat's body unchecked.

“It..” she cleared her throat, “It's still Valentine's Day?”

“I.. I’m sorry, Supergirl, I didn't expect you...I didn't even-”

“It's alright. I'm oddly flattered. They must be very important to you.”

Cat found herself nodding absently, the conversation catching up with her as she turned her focus back to the other woman trying to find more words to express herself.

“I should be going unless, you have more questions?”

“Hundreds, but you promised me a second interview.”

Supergirl let out a breathy laugh, giving a short nod to that. “I did mention it, yes.”  With ease she floated a few inches from the ground, drifting over until Cat was looking up at her like one would the stars. “Goodnight Ms. Grant.”  Without sound or the rustle of air, she was suddenly gone, up and away.

“Good night.”

Supergirl spun around in the air, twisting into a barrel roll headed for CatCo's building once more to buzz its rooftop, the incessant pounding of her heart with Cat's words fueling her own spike of adrenaline. Until, out of nowhere, she heard Eliza's voice, clear as a bell across an underlay of normal frequencies.  It threw her trajectory off sharply and she corrected at breakneck speed before coming to a stop.

“Kara, we know you can hear us.”

She twisted full circle with a flare of her cape. “Jeremiah?!”  She heard the pair arguing over where she was until she saw a flicker of light from a distance.

“There!” She heard just before rocketing towards the large multi-tiered structure coming to a dead stop just above the two of them.

“What are you doing?!” A thousand questions fought for dominance before she narrowed her gaze and saw a group of figures huddled just beyond the roof access door.  Eliza turned to follow her gaze just as Kara's eyes flared to life in defense.

“WAIT!” Eliza put herself between Kara and the door, arms outstretched.

“We're okay Kara. I swear.” Jeremiah offered, stepping closer to his wife. “Everything is alright.”

“Kara.” Eliza tried again, watching her daughter cautiously. “ You have to trust me. Please.”

She could overhear the voices just beyond, eyes brightening for a half second as she looked back at her parents.

“Tell them to come out, but send the arsenal away.”

Eliza nodded, relaying her daughter's commands soundly, while Kara studied those beyond the door cautiously until only two individuals remained.

“We’re coming out.  Please stand down”

Hank stepped out first, followed by Diana, both of them unarmed and hands visible.

Kara waited until the door closed before melting  it shut, sealing the lock before landing on the utmost ledge of the building with a heavy thunder of a sound.

“Explain. Now.”


	27. By the Dark of Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and the others are introduced to the DEO to near disasterous results

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Not sure why I'm adding music to everything atm but hey if it helps my thought process perhaps it will influence the reading process. ](http://youtubeonrepeat.com/watch/?v=9uDZGNw819c&from=26&to=287) This is one of those elements that I keep at a low hum that fuels a common theme...

Kara paced across a room, or more of what at least appeared like a small apartment, although it seemed hardly lived in. She could see the city from the vantage provided but it was murky at best.

“Lead infused glass.” She muttered, turning again as she looked at the remaining individuals in the room with her. “You give them that information too?”

“Kara please.” Eliza tried.  “I know you’re mad, and you’re hurt and we wanted to tell you-”

“And instead you told me not to be who I really was, you didn’t understand years ago when I left why I had to. Before that, when you first found me, you made me swear…”  Kara curled her hands into fists before turning to look at Eliza directly instead of pacing about. “I should have known when you were both too calm over the phone after I showed the world all the things you both begged me to hide away.  I thought… I dunno what I thought-”

“Kara you were so young, Clark was a baby, this.. this here, right now, it’s different.”

“Different? Different?! I have been terrified the entire time I’ve existed on Earth that one day my world, my family, -everything- I had rebuilt, -everything- that I allowed myself to love and accept and want would be taken away from me again the -instant- I ignored my human facade on instinct and exposed who I really am by fucking accident!!”

Jeremiah stepped closer with the rise in the volume of Kara’s voice, while Eliza held steadfast.

“Until I couldn’t take it anymore, and I decided, I chose to become this, to stop hiding knowing you and the others could remain detached and unknowing. You could stay safe and if there was ever a target it would be me and yet here we are.”  She threw her hands up, letting them slap against her thighs soundly.  “The two of you recruited, which I’m sure was more like threatened to join or else, to some secret government organization that hunts aliens and protects Earth because of ME.  Great fucking savior I am.”

“Kara, listen to me, please.  It was because of you that we even agreed to this, your courage, the choice you made to be this hero.  It felt like we were finally able to do something for you, -this- you and make sure you were still protected. They recruited us because they needed help, because we’re engineers in our fields. The only one who even knew anything beyond that and our connection to you was Director Henshaw-”

“Just... “ Kara held a hand up, looking between the two of them before turning away shaking her head. “She was right. This whole time and here I was acting no different than my Uncle and the stupid council. Believing I'm different, I'm prepared and I could stay hidden. No one showed any interest, save for that little bit at-”

“Who was right?” Jeremiah tried this time before feeling the gravity of his daughter's glare.

“No one.” Kara huffed, her pacing increasing. “It's all just a farce.”

Jeremiah stepped closer, “Kara honestly. Henshaw has known something ever since you landed, and our efforts, -your- efforts were and have been beyond comprehensive understanding to everyone else.”

“Really? How is that even possible? I know this government has kept others like me for experiments and-”

“Not -this- organization, that one you're referring to, Cadmus, it was shut down, but its former director has gone rogue.  ” Eliza explained, intercepting her daughter's route. “Those aliens were from some kind of maximum security prison that was crashed at the same time you and Clark did.

Kara turned back to them wholly, searching their auras and discerning how much conviction was had in what they were saying.  How much they trusted….“How do you know, -really- know?  You both were always so worried if I were found, if Clark, what might happen.  What was most likely to happen. What levels certain organizations and governments would go to-”

“Only another alien had any idea about you and kept it to himself. He spearheaded this project, has kept others from other worlds safe.” Jeremiah claimed, setting a hand on Eliza’s shoulder who offered a supportive squeeze back. “He’s doing the same thing you are, just in another way.”

“What, so suddenly he’s my fairy alien godfather or something?”

“I've been called worse,” Henshaw uttered as he came from around the entrance foyer with Kara and her foster parents.

Kara turned away from them once more, looking back to the windows and the horizon beyond it.  In the reflection, she saw Henshaw and her parents gesture among each other before she was left alone with the director.   She let out a stoney exhale, already having heard a few of the particulars of this Director and ran a relentless stream of Kryptonian equations in her mind to try and keep him out.  When he didn’t say anything and instead took a seat at the small counter within the kitchenette, she glanced over her shoulder at him.

“Isn’t this the part where you tell me what I’m thinking?”  Hank actually smirked, his earlier stout and no-nonsense demeanor far more relaxed.  As a result, Kara turned, arms still crossed over her chest, to look at him.

“Kryptonian’s are impervious to my telepathy.”

Kara actually snortled, partly at herself and at the explanation.  Why she found such hilarity in it was anyone’s guess, although given the current situation she was in and all the incidents leading up to it at this point it was either laugh or cry.  Hank took a slow breath inward as he studied her, observing as she seemed to surrender herself to something before gradually making her way closer, her brief amusement having withered away.

“Is your _organization_ listening to us?”

Hank’s smirk expanded to a smile, giving a small shake of his head.  “Quite the opposite.” He indicated to the apartment.  “There are dampeners in effect, not only against humans but non-terrestrials who might also be capable of listening in, knowingly or unknowingly.  Although. we do like to extend some generosity of trust with those who work here.”

“Interesting way of putting it.”

“On paper yes that looks good. Especially to those running this country in order to enable them to sleep a little better at night.  In actuality, we’re a family here.  Every family has its issues, but trust above all is not one of them I can assure you.”

Kara moved closer still, finally seizing a stool and parking it directly opposite the man before sitting down, the only thing missing was a chess board.

“Why.” She demanded, staring the man down from her new vantage point.

“Why?”

“Why Eliza and Jeremiah?”

Hank gave a minute shrug. “Why not Jonathan and Martha.”  He watched her hands roll into fists before gazing back up at her. “I have known about you since before you were born.”  That made the woman straighten considerably. “You think your father and Uncle sent you here on a whim? That out of all the planets in all the galaxies they were aware of, he would choose here above all else to send his own son and niece?”

Kara wanted to scream, she wanted to laugh and everything in-between.  The spectrum of emotions were distinctly apparent, not only in her expression but, her entire body and Henshaw squared himself up enough to attract her focus.

“Kara Zor-El, Last Daughter of Krypton, even you were aware of Earth when you learned about worlds beyond your own.  As well as the stories your father animated into bedtime tales about his brother and those adventures across the known galaxies.”

Her eyes burned with unshed tears, glaring at the man in front of her, anger leaking into every measure of her frame. “So many lies… so much false hope. We.. we’re just constructs” She swallowed thickly, the substance of his implications permeating her insides like lead.  “My destiny, my choices, they were never my own were they.”

Hank tilted his head down slightly, drawing her attention again before she spiraled out of control, her eyes fluttered enough to send tears down her face before she rubbed them away furiously. “Not all of them no.  You didn’t choose to be put in that pod and sent here.  Aside from that, there are far more than you think Kara.”  

She shook her head at him, sniffling soundly and pushing the wetness skimming down her face away again, words failing to formulate within her.

“I promised your Uncle, should the time arise, that I would protect you. That if nothing else he or others did worked, to expect you and your cousin, but not to interfere.”  He reached out then, benevolently anchoring a hand over one of her own to try and soothe her, grateful for her concession of the contact when she didn’t move away.  “I am three hundred and seven years old, and I have been stranded on this planet far longer than your family had time to truly realize that it would be impossible for me not to interfere.”

Kara gazed at their hands, then back up at him, her inquiry enduring wordlessly between them.

“Your Uncle gave far too much credit to the perseverance of man and wanting to better themselves, which is not to say that quality isn’t there, but it is indeed for the sole perseverance of man, the human man. They can barely co-exist as it is, nevermind throwing extraordinary individuals, no matter how good their intentions may be when it is determined they aren’t from this planet or this galaxy.”

“What are you even saying right now?”

“What I’m saying, is that your Uncle laid the groundwork for this organization, he planted the seed of its development within me after our encounter while others helped make it grow.  I’ve been expecting you for nearly fifty years.  When you and your cousin didn’t arrive as I hoped, when the times were far easier to shelter and hide people like you, like us, I had to do something more knowing you were coming.”

Hank clasped her hand gently, regarding her body language as she unwound a little further, her anger diminishing to a subdued simmer.

“When you are an alien, you are willing to sacrifice anything, everything, betray your fundamental instincts just to fit in. To belong somewhere, to find your place in the world.  Except you, in some ways, you have defied everything, and yes you’ve had some help, some interference with plans pre-determined for you. But you, this you, here with me now, you are a beautiful adaptation. Kara, you’re a god with a human heart, a heroes heart, no one, and nothing could have constructed that for you.”

“I’m not a god, I’m just me. “ Kara allowed an emotional exhale to escape her, cheeks distending with it as she permitted his statements to sink in, easily remembering Astra’s own words to that very sentiment about her heart after she had saved Cat and unveiled herself to the world.

“I have dishonored your house, by going against the wishes of your family elders, I interfered to keep you safe, to hide you away until you were either ready for something like this.” He pointed to the sigil across her chest.  “Or to hide you away for good if you wanted to just exist as a simple human woman from Midvale.”  He watched the information descend into her body, dragging the tension from her shoulders and leaving it to the ground like one would discard clothes after too long a day.

“When you showed yourself to the world, I knew without a doubt I would have to interfere again.  Which is why Eliza and Jeremiah, I needed them for what they knew, what their skills allow them to discover effortlessly, and to find you.”  Kara cast her eyes up to him pointedly and he pressed against her hand to console her.  

“Whatever you’ve done, since that first time we saw each other, has been extraordinary in keeping you hidden for the most part. But. Kara, you have to realize there are others out there, ones I know your parents mentioned to you.  Project Cadmus and rogue individuals formerly involved with it, who are very much involved with trying to find you for their own means that even I’m not sure of, yet.  You have to understand the reasons behind the things I have done Kara, otherwise, those individuals or others may have found you before I ever could.”

Kara swallowed arduously, sensing the world around her seem to become smaller despite the circumstance she found herself in.  How so many other variables could have resulted in a radically contrasting situation with her and her family.  Her Aunt could be some enthralled alien project or someone’s science experiment, her family and friends held in quarantine just for being in her same space or worse, and Clark…

She nearly choked as her mind conveyed a plethora of what if's and horrors before she shut her eyes to the onslaught of sickness that threatened to turn her stomach inside out in an endeavor to will the sensation away.

“I’m not ashamed of this, but I do know, with that dishonor of the old ways, I believe I have honored the new ones you are instilling in yourself, your cousin, and this world. According to that grievance, and ways of your people, I will be in your debt until you determine I have restored that honor.”

Kara took a deliberate breath inward, rotating her hand in his own and clutching back forcefully, tugging a tiny smile from the man as he endured the action without falter.  She cast her gaze down with her exhale, exploring their joined grip, her head tilting ever so slightly as she saw his aura alter before his body followed suit.  Her lips split apart in her awe, eyes pursuing the transformation in his physique until red eyes leveled on her own.  She granted him an empathetic stare, feeling her heart break just a little as the influence of his reveal sunk into her.  

Even on Krypton, he might not have been accepted upon first arrival, she had seen it first hand, closer to the end of her planet’s destruction, how xenophobic her people had become.  He was not mistaken in the detriments for some in contrast to herself.  She could pass as human effortlessly, without so much as a secondary thought.  She would be accepted by a vast majority of people by that simplistic basis alone, whereas this man, and no doubt others lost on this world soliciting their own refuge, might never without some significant change.  And a lot of hope.

“So you _are_ a, well not little, but a green man from Mars.”

Hank let out a small chuckle, his other hand stretching around their combined ones.  “Close enough.”

“Thank you, for not listening.”

He nodded a few times over, his stoicism even more prevalent in this form than his human facade. “I should say the same to you, your path as you have forged it is nothing like what I was informed of to expect, not even a little bit.”

Kara smiled genuinely, the darker lilt of her emotions having eased, for now.  She set her other hand over his, pulling him a little closer, her expression growing serious once more.

“I need my family to be safe.”

It was Hank’s turn to take a deep breath, giving a small shake of his head having predicted that request. “Of course you do.”

“-All- of my family. And a few others. To trust that they will be protected now, and in the event, something, anything, should happen to me or this organization of yours. Otherwise, you’re going to have to find a different poster girl.”

“I assume these are not the only terms and conditions you have for joining the D.E.O.?”

Kara shook her head. “Merely the first, the most important, for now.  I also know I’m going to need your help, and my parents as well, to convince a couple others to join this cause.”

Hank responded reverently, his form displacing back to his human one before he released her hands and proceeded to stand.  “That can be arranged, but first, I need you to come with me.”

“Is this where you run tests on me?”

Hank smirked and shook his head. “No, we will get to that, but only at your pace and your discretion, when you’re ready.  This is personal.  I need you to meet someone.”

Kara stood, her posture hesitant, unsure if she could handle many more surprises. Recognizing her uncertainty for what it was he invited her to follow, his own body language conveying that everything would be alright.  

“Her name is Susan Vasquez, exemplary agent and the only reason she’s here and not a name on a memorial wall is because you saved her in that explosion-”

“The woman I entrusted to you when we first met.”

Hank nodded, inclining his head in the direction of the hall.  “She’s on light duty still but has provided valuable information, her recovery has been a little rough but I have a feeling after meeting you, that’ll smooth out just fine.”

Kara swallowed visibly once more, walking forward as he escorted her into the hall, leaving her mask down unlike when she had first transversed the facility.  Her parents were loitering near the elevator, quietly discussing what was transpiring between her and Hank only to quiet as they saw the two of them approach.

She still wasn’t sure how to feel about their actions, even if her mind reconciled what they had been doing was out of a love for her and an intention not unlike her real parents had to make the world better in order for her to exist within it.  Not only her but Alex as well.  As she neared them they straightened but made no movements to initiate anything with her, despite the questions in both of their eyes.

Hank skirted behind Eliza, pressing the down button for the elevator as the other three proceeded to size one another up soundlessly.  He glanced at the lighted numbers above the elevator doors, trying to coerce the thing to move faster what with the tension inundating everyone there.  

Kara was the first of the three to move when she stepped between Eliza and Jeremiah then, drawing them both to her with a collective noise of surprise from both of them.   Hank glanced at them for another moment, intruding on it, watching Kara’s features threaten to overhaul her emotions once again as her eyes closed while Eliza and Jeremiah collectively encircled her.  Both of them murmuring an aggregate of apologies and other sentiments before the elevator enunciated its approach.

Kara released the pent-up components of her emotions with a viscid exhale just as the two drew back from her.  Jeremiah shifted his attention to Hank, offering him a soundless thank you while Eliza swept the hair from Kara’s face, lifting the line of a tear from her skin in the process before she stepped into the elevator with the other two men.  Kara squared her shoulders after a second, walking into the elevator car and rotating to face the reflective doors as they closed.

“I’m not sure I can get used to this.” She whispered, watching the floor numbers drop.  

“What’s that?”

“The after part. I can remember everyone I’ve helped, every face, every voice in the moment.  It’s all over and done so fast, there’s no time to linger. And I rarely, if ever see them again, thankfully. I, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do or say after.”

“You should never get ‘used to this’” Hank advised, setting his hand on her shoulder from behind. “Just hold on to the idea that with time, it will get easier to respond.”

The elevator came to a stop, the doors opening on the main floor, complete with the entire complement of agents both on and off shift.  Hank came into perfect stride with Kara as she led them out, perceiving she would heed his direction while presenting them as equals to those following their every move across the main floor.

Eliza and Jeremiah were close behind, each considering in the expectant gazes and curiously hopeful expressions on those around them.  The two looked at one another, the tension in the facility palpable enough to be felt without superhuman capabilities before they eased off to neighboring stations while Hank took Kara onto the main dais within the center of the room.

“Agent Vasquez,” Hank’s tone was as the woman’s director, indicating to anyone merely gawking at them that they should redirect their attention to something more serviceable.  The woman in question was seated at one of the main consoles, her fingers continuing over the keyboard under her control for another second before she stood and turned, arranging her posture into an at ease state.

Kara saw the reality of the situation hit the other woman, a plenitude of emotions traversing her features while she remained relatively still.

“I’d like you to meet-”

“Supergirl.” Kara interrupted, stepping ahead of Hank, extending her hand out to the woman who glanced down at it on the edge of reluctance.  “But you can call me Kara if you’d prefer.”

Vasquez swallowed hard, glancing heavenward for a split second to collect her emotions before reaching forward and gripping Kara’s hand in what would have been an unforgiving hold were she not Kryptonian.  

“Wasn’t sure I would ever be able to thank you, K-Kara.”

Kara felt like the woman craved to do more and as such tugged gently on her hand impelling Vasquez to action, wrapping the heroine into an uncharacteristic embrace.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” Vasquez whispered so only Kara could hear, hugging her a little tighter knowing she could. “Other than to say I believe in you, and this, and I will do everything I can to help you help all of us.”

**\-------**

Alex discreetly eased beyond the doors to Kara’s bedroom, guaranteeing she could still hear Carter if he stirred while knowing Astra would be able to even if she didn’t.  Winn had already gone to bed and with Alex’s late shifts they had been trading off her bedroom like two passing ships over the preceding week.

 _“You are very good with him,”_ Astra stated, observing from her place just above the floor in her typical cross-legged posture once Alex was near enough to hear her.

Alex padded across the main room of the apartment towards the fridge, grabbing a drink for herself before pointing to the object to see if Astra wanted anything.  

 _“Water.”_  

Alex retrieved a bottle and made her way towards the floating woman, dragging a couch cushion with her and sliding it across the floor before plopping down into it, holding up the bottle for Astra to take from her.

“Bonded over the past couple of holidays with him.”

Astra took the bottle with a small thank you, allowing herself to descend enough to scarcely meet the floor.  “ _It is more than that, Alexandra. He trusts you, I can see it.”_

Alex mm’d with a small nod around a sip of her drink. “Kara’s to blame for that one then.”

Astra shook her head, draining half the bottle in one swallow. _“Is it an inherency with you, to deny yourself the merit of accomplishments that are just a part of your make up?”_

Alex let out a breathless laugh. “I grew up with Kara and Clark, er... Kal-El. It’s a learned behavior I think.”

Astra inclined her head, watching Alex divert her gaze elsewhere only to have it return pointedly as Astra touched the side of her face to bring her back to the conversation.   _“And if this were Krypton, given what I have come to know about this planet, you are just as extraordinary as they are Alexandra.”_

“Except this isn’t. It’s Earth, the reward for people like me is not being ostracised by others who are older and less adept while also not being taken seriously despite one’s capabilities and merits.”

 _“Which is why I still refer to it and its peoples as a whole as primitive.”_  Astra actually winked while Alex permitted a smile touch her lips before taking another sip from her bottle.

The two of them remained across from one another in ample silence simply granting the permanence of the other within their individual personal spaces settle in properly before Alex agitated the calm with a pensive intake of breath.

“Can I ask you something?”

“ _Yes.”_ Astra’s reply was almost instant as if she had been anticipating it to come for some time.

Alex put the cap back on her drink, setting it on the nearby table alongside Astra’s empty one before scooting a little closer.  “Alura…” She watched as Astra stiffened in her shoulders minutely but proceeded regardless. “That wasn’t some artificial intelligence consciousness matrix we saved like Zor-El was, was it?”

Astra let out a gradual exhale, she knew they would need to talk about what they had done, what they were both still keeping from Kara.  Given that her niece hadn’t confronted either of them yet meant Kara had as yet to return to the fortress.

“ _No. You heard Kara’s father refer to that disc as a tethering module. A similar set was used when Kara and Kal-El were sent here together but the pods themselves were tethered along with their own modules.”_

“Set? So there’s two.”

_“Alura has mine, they are similar to life support systems we used when sending exploratory groups out.  It enables each member to track others, and should something occur, the others would know where they were and other various elements between them.”_

Alex licked her lips, chewing on her bottom lip, working that statement through her mind and knowing Astra wasn’t telling her something.  That was more than just a mere life support monitor, otherwise, there would have been no reason to risk as much as they had.  Nor would there have been the contention that they were saving a life.

“Yours is different, isn’t it?”

Astra practically huffed out a breath, her legs unfolding smoothly as she came to stand before walking away, adjacent to the windows.  Despite the lack of altitude, the view had its own sense of nostalgia, reminding her of her world.  The one she used to lead, the one whose secrets she kept that had secured her safety despite Krypton’s destruction.

Alex followed her after a minute or two, setting on the edge of the couch arm to give Astra room to move around as she might want.

“ _Ours was a simple plot, at first, there was no saving the planet, we all knew it but the others wouldn’t listen.  If we left, we knew we would be hunted down, despite our world’s imminent destruction._ ” She let out a sad laugh then, her fingertips touching the glass. “ _It may have spared us the pain of watching it all happen but would have killed our children.”_

“Our?”

Astra smiled in contempt of herself.  “ _I could not love a child more than if Rao had granted me one of my own._ ” She ran a hand through her hair then, clinging onto its length near the back of her neck.

“Did you not-”

“ _I was sterilized in an incident, but seeing as Alura and I are twins, which is rare enough on Krypton, I always liked to believe Kara was just as much a part of me.”_

“I’m sorry.”

Astra shook her head, glancing over her shoulder at the other woman before turning back to the skyline.  “ _I_ _t was Alura who ultimately secured my place on that prison ship, we deceived everyone, even Kara. As I told Zor-El, Alura made sure I was placed in a stasis pod, complete with her module, sequestered away from others on that ship who knew what and who I was. It was like a final goodbye, and a last request knowing she wouldn’t survive but that I had a much higher probability._ ” Astra looked back to the window then, letting out a slow exhale. “ _And that I might be able to find Kara and give some part of her mother back to her.”_

“Kara always said her mother refused to get into the pod with her, something about guilt and failure.”

“ _She was never going to allow herself to get into one,”_ Astra said resolutely, turning to Alex directly then.  “ _Her husband, on the other hand, that’s another thing altogether.”_

Alex examined Astra closely, letting the pieces slip into place, her expression exposing the revelation as she came to understand it, or believed she understood it.

“ _Alura is still alive.”_ Astra allowed, regarding Alex intently. _“She is part of the reason why I survived despite the experiments others from your planet here conducted on me.  Our modules are, different, we altered them before I was sent away.  Alura wanted to ensure every ounce of herself, even her final split second of life could be Kara’s someday. Which meant tethering herself directly to the module until Krypton’s destruction, knowing I would have it. Knowing I would be witness to her death and at the same time become the herald of her life as it had been for her daughter’s sake, and maybe even my own to a point.”_

Alex listened thoroughly, trying to understand the nuances of the other woman’s story.  

“ _Zor-El, to put it in simple terms, downloaded his consciousness, as did Kal-El’s father, into a sunstone that was secured in Kara’s pod.  The result of that is what you saw in the fortress, it is a kind of living ghost, programmed within its A.I. matrix to emulate them.”_

“I.. I still don’t understand completely.  I get that Zor-El was like a hologram, an artificial construct with the personality of Kara’s father.  Your fist went right through him.  Alura was...real.  You hugged her, she touched my shoulder. But he was just as surprised to see that module as I was when he said my name.”

Astra nodded slowly, inclining against the exposed brick wall separating the large windows as she regarded Alex. “ _Programming_ .” Astra asserted simply.  “ _He knew Alura was simply going to lay down and die, as a kind of penance I suppose.  When she connected to the module before Krypton’s destruction, he rendered her unconscious and put her in another pod._ ”

“But… how I mean you weren’t able to tell him if you were in prison.”

“ _Jor-El owed me a favor, I requested an appeal with him and told him to convince his brother, for the sake of Kara and his own son Kal-El.”_

“What of Kal-El’s parents, wouldn’t Jor-El have done the same? For his own son if not for his own niece?”

Astra looked genuinely remorseful then, her shoulders sinking to some extent.  “ _Lara, Kal’s mother, was supposed to be with him.  Though given what Kara has told me about her journey here, instead, I believe she was the one that tethered Kal-El and Kara’s pods together to ensure they ended up together after launch.  There’s no other explanation for it, not only with them arriving at the same time but having enough pull to bring Fort Rozz along with them.”_

“Essentially bringing you as well.”

Astra agreed slowly.  “ _I_ _would not know anything specifically without looking at their pods first hand.”_

Alex straightened. “I … know where they are.”

Astra cut her eyes up then, features lifting after with interest.  

“Kara, after everything,” Alex reflected back on it, the memories of her sister leaving for what she thought had been college at the time.  She hadn’t realized until much later when Kara seemed to just disappear that her sister had given her a gift, even if it had been shrouded in a goodbye at the time.  She remembered cursing that pod, for the secrets it held and the part it played in taking her sister away from her back then.  

Alex swallowed thickly at the abrupt intensity of the memories, and what consequences might have been wrought had Kara not followed through with her supposed birth rite.  She would most likely have stayed living at home, attending her mother's school for a science degree and not a medical one. Kara would assuredly be a teacher herself but for a far younger audience, living a monotonous life. Those weren't negative things to aspire to… until she compared them to their life now.

She considered all the people not only affected by Kara and that one choice, but those she herself had affected, those Alex herself had saved. Like Kara’s mother or the two sleeping in the other room, and especially the woman in front of her now.  Astra must have seen the variance in her expression, the glossy finish to her eyes because it was her actions closer to Alex that swayed her free of the what ifs and the truth. That despite everything, she wouldn't change anything.

 _“Are you alright Brave One?”_ Astra's voice was a whisper, like a child half afraid she had broken something.

Alex nodded minutely, reigning in her melodramatic revelations. “Kara,” she shook her head at herself and the vacillation of her voice. “Before she left when I was younger, she showed them to me, at least hers. Told me she helped my father and Uncle hide them. I was so angry at her afterward, I didn't realize until just now how important that was for her.” To try and help me understand, she thought to herself.

Astra studied the other woman thoughtfully, recognizing that there was so much more to that little tidbit of truth but wasn't about to force it, not now at least. _“Then we may have to take another trip.”_

“Not without Kara.” Alex's response was instantaneous and she took another breath on the verge of an apology before her tone softened. “That involves my parents and Clark's.”

Astra nodded, her sparse attempt at humor having been squandered. Her eyes pursued Alex's aura once more, witnessing it ripple and oscillate like the auroras and bolstered herself for the next question she knew was coming.

“That still doesn't explain Alura's form. Or why we're still keeping it from Kara.”

 _“I do not know where she is exactly”_ Astra admitted, taking note of Alex's resolute gaze with her response. _“She is still in the pod, in stasis. With her being tethered directly to it and in my possession, there was one other failsafe, should my pod and essentially I not survive.”_

“Which is?”

“ _Cascade shut down and eradication.”_

“My God why?”

“ _Imagine, if the individuals who had me, had the module. They would have access to everything on Krypton, everything that could be extrapolated from a living Kryptonian not just programmed matrixes that can deny information and self-destruct if compromised.  Alura still being alive and directly linked, she wouldn't have that luxury. But without a proper source of power, a Kryptonian source-”_

“She would die.”

Astra nodded. “ _She is safe, for now.”_

“Why not tell Kara? She's going to find out when she returns there.”

“ _And she should be the one to determine if Alura can be found or if it becomes a matter of preserving her mind, not unlike her father’s in that fortress and letting her go.”_

Alex stood then in absolute disbelief towards what she was discovering. “She won't do that, how… how could you even let her?”

Astra straightened as Alex invaded her personal space, watching her aura spit and roll like electricity. _“I couldn't because I know she will do anything not to make that final decision should it come to that. Just like I know you would do as much as I would to help her.”_

“I don't understand and I hate being made to feel like that,” Alex warned without falter as Astra stared down at her.

“ _Then direct your ire at Alura, not me. She has not told me where she is, due to her being directly connected to that module especially for so long now, she's actively hiding her location, for what I can only assume is in order to make that choice easier for Kara.”_

“Why?!”

Astra advanced closer, dragging Alex with her instantly across the apartment into a corner and further from Winn and Carter's expanse of hearing, hand benevolently compressed against Alex's mouth. They stood like that for a moment as Astra attuned her hearing to the other two nearby, allowing Alex to pull her away when it seemed alright to do so.

“ _The same reasons she was willing to stay behind. She feels it is what she deserves and she wants Kara to forgive her.”_

“That is not how you ask for forgiveness. That, that is selfish and … it will destroy Kara.”

“ _Alura knows I am alive, that Kara and Kal are alive. She will argue it is enough, she will use her situation as a judgment upon herself while releasing Kara in a way.  Then she will be the oldest heir apparent of her house and honor to that will be restored.”_

“That is utterly disturbing and inhuman and ridiculous!” Alex struck at Astra's chest to accentuate her position without elevating her voice. “For all that advanced civilization and technology and ways of life you keep mentioning it sounds more and more like a bunch of bullshit.”

“ _This is why our world died Alexandra, hubris, cynicism and an unwillingness to progress beyond ourselves as anything other than superior, no matter how hard some of us tried.”_

Alex rummaged Astra's features for a long hard moment, reaching up after a heartbeat and just as her fingers started to thread through Astra's hair the woman seized her wrists and drew back.

“ _What are you doing?”_

“I want to know.” Alex flexed her fingers, straining them to resume the transition into the woman's hair, testing Astra's hold on her before half stepping closer. “I need to know, really _know_ Astra.”

“ _Know what Alexandra?”_

“That you're not the same as your sister.”

Astra tightened her hands around Alex's wrists. “ _I am much worse._ ” Her response left no room for interpretation.

Alex pressed closer heedlessly, realizing as an afterthought how much taller Astra was when she stood at full attention. Squaring her shoulders and holding her ground. “I don't believe you.”

“ _You should. Do not forget I was a General, not like your generals who squabble over chunks of land like animals over a piece of meat.”_

“Powerful and influential enough to make Zor-El program his matrix to stop you. I know.”

Astra shook her head. “ _No, you do not. You do not un-”_

“Understand. Which I told you I hate feeling that way. There are some things I do understand, I’ve lied to my sister, kept this secret from her when we promised not to do that again to each other.  That I stood up for you back at that fortress. I swore on your god that you were not this monster that's been conveniently constructed around you. Do you know why?”

Astra swallowed, giving the frailest shake of her head before whispering. “ _Tell me._ ”

“Because it's all a lie wrapped around the truth of who you really are. The memories Kara shared about you-”

“ _Spoken through the nostalgic lens of a young girl.”_

“How much you risked saving Alura, and how much she was willing to risk with you.”

“ _We are identical twins, and in a way, she was saving herself with her actions. If my reputation did not precede itself no one would have believed me capable of the convictions she placed on me when she sent me to that prison.”_

“How upset you are with Alura's suspected intentions with hiding herself and how much you don't want Kara to even consider the ultimatum you think Alura has for her.”

“ _No child should decide the fate of their own parent like that. It is a cruelty but it is a part of life, even on Earth at times, you have been witness to it at your medical facility.”_

“The way you are with Winn.”

“ _He saved me from your misguided people. I owe him-”_

“Monsters don't owe anyone anything.” Alex tested Astra's hold again, sensing less constraint than before. “I think, you are like your sister in a way, that you would rather accept the lie of being a murderous criminal zealot as a kind of penance to assuage the guilt of surviving. That you might actually believe you are a monster if at the end of it all, knowing everything that you did with the position you held, you ultimately chose to save your family over your world. Knowing if you had done the opposite, while it may have worked it would have destroyed you, this you, and every way of life your people knew. Ultimately I think you did what was right for your people. That maybe you could have saved your planet but at the cost of its humanity and I think you realized that cost was too high.”

Astra looked struck, words abandoning her in order for her to break through Alex's tirade. Alex's fingertips had slipped into her hairline, their bodies touching with the woman's effort to gain even this much ground. She hadn't even discerned it until she felt the ruthless pounding of Alex's heart against her own body in the span of silence between them.  Alex curled her fingertips then, determination and something else, something Astra dare not even give a name to, written across her features.

“But I need to know Astra. Monster or savior, I _want_ to know.” Alex explored Astra's eyes half terrified of the feelings surging around inside herself, watching as that studious mask started to drain away. “Please.”

“ _T_ _his is not the same as when you connect with Kara,”_ Astra whispered her grasp on Alex slipping.

“Winn's fine.” Alex drove her fingers into the depths of Astra's hair, gathering handfuls of the dense strands and grazing her nails across the woman's scalp.

“ _That is because Alura altered his mind when she encountered him. My mind helps the parts she activated in him until he can manage it himself in time.”_

Alex curled her fingers in Astra's hair, her expression one of incredulity as she gently swayed the other woman. “She and I are going to have a conversation… I swear to … to Rao.”

Astra provided a half smile. “ _Alexandra, Brave One. I believe that and we will talk to her. You may even convince her more than I could but-_ ”

“I still need to know.”

Astra arranged her hands over Alex's, fitting her fingers between the other woman's own where she pressed affectionately. “ _I could kill you._ ”

“You won't.” Alex gave out a tenuous breath, “I don't know… if I'll let myself try this again with you Astra.”

Astra dragged in a deep breath of her own, allowing her hands to skim away, fingers immersing themselves into Alex's hair, permitting the other woman to bring them closer and just as their foreheads were about to touch, the apartment door was unlocked and pushed aside.

“Wait…”  Kara commanded before crossing the threshold, devoid of her suit and dressed in all black instantly noticing Alex near the window. Eliza and Jeremiah stepped a little further inside while Hank and Diana appeared on edge as they followed. Only to have Astra drop from the ceiling behind them, grappling Diana by the throat, hoisting her up while driving her foot behind Hanks' knee propelling him to the ground with an inhuman growl as she applied all her mass onto his limb.

“ _Are you hurt little one? Are they threatening you?”_ Diana appeared shocked, struggling to pry Astra's hand from her while Hank worked to turn. “ _Brave One, the boys, now! Kara go!”._  Alex started to move, nearly tripping over herself upon noticing her parents and given Astra's enraged carriage felt as if the worst case scenario was truly occurring. Eliza and Jeremiah toppled to the side, Eliza grabbing for Hank in an endeavor to pull him away from the anonymous woman.

Hank phased enough for Astra's foot to pass through him, struggling to a stand with Jeremiah and Eliza's aid before taking up a protective stance, keeping them behind himself as he prepared for another assault until he recognized the woman's face. Winn came to a skidding halt seemingly out of nowhere. Some kind of weapon, or what looked like one with the way he was handling it, leveled at those near the door.

“Stop!” Kara shouted obstructing Winn's trajectory in the event he fired.

“Mom, Dad?!” Alex hurried to Winn, clutching an arm around his middle, gawking at her parents in shock and dismay.

“Alura?” Hank softened his posture, keeping his hands out to demonstrate that he intended no harm.

Diana felt the other woman waver with whatever name Hank had spoken, managing that second to seize Astra's wrist and haul herself forward, headbutting the woman who released her throat but grabbed her shoulders to restrain her from progressing anywhere.

All of them halted at the wailing that pierced through the chaos, loud and shrill, spontaneously flinging half the room into panic and the rest into obscurity.

“She has a child?” Astra threw Diana from herself with the woman's inquiry, dragging the apartment door shut soundly behind herself.  Nearby a series of mix-matched screens scrolled away with various code and dispatch relays, while a radio call for domestic disturbance went out with Kara's address as the dispatched destination filling the gaps between Carter’s cries causing Winn to swear.

“Oh my God Carter.” Eliza exclaimed.

“Why do you have Carter?!” Jeremiah finished while Hank peered at everyone wondering how this ragtag assortment had stayed hidden even this long.

Kara seemed caught between heartbroken and exasperated and as Alex separated from Winn after a whisper to him, Kara stepped closer, hand held out for the weapon in his shaking hand. “Winn…” her tone unmistakable in its warning.

“Kara.” Winn kept the weapon up, his tone expectant.

Kara scowled at him, letting out a breath as she heard Alex trying to console Carter just beyond the door to the bedroom. “Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?”

Winn hesitated for only a moment before lowering the weapon, leaving the rest that heard Kara even more perplexed until he handed whatever he had brandished over to her. “We have three minutes before NCPD comes knocking.”

Kara nodded, tugging him into a big hug as Alex came around with Carter who immediately lunged for her sister.

“Mama, no loud pweese. No loud!” Kara released Winn, who Alex hugged to her for herself as much as him, while Kara pulled the little boy close, leaving the weapon for Alex to palm into her back pocket in their exchange.

Instantly she reeled from Carter's fear, conceding that in all the places he would never have expected to hear shouting in anger was with her. “It's okay buddy, Kara's here. Alex had the TV on too loud. That's all.”  He buried himself into her body, hiding away while Kara turned and glared at those who had accompanied her. “I told you to wait. She could have …”

“We'll deal with that later.” Hank interjected, looking at the others.

Astra shouldered Diana out of her way, although the woman scarcely moved, keeping her hands visible as Astra stalked across the room in order to reach her niece as well as Alex and Winn; the second of that trio already reaching for Astra's arm, finding purchase along her shoulder only to cling to it intently.

It was a unique juxtaposition. Hank and Diana trying to make sense of what they were witness to, Jeremiah and Eliza just behind standing disconcerted and apprehensive, all striving to appear non-threatening opposite Kara, focused in her attempts to soothe Carter and Astra just behind her shoulder, a hand cupping the child’s head with Alex clutching onto her as if to hold her back while simultaneously embracing Winn into her side.  

“You heard her,” Alex said in a shaken voice. “Get yourselves together and make it look like we were watching a movie or something too loud before the police get here.

After a second of hesitation, the others sprung to action, stripping off jackets and shoes at Eliza's instruction while Jeremiah headed for the fridge, grabbing various items and setting them out while making it seem like they'd had too much to drink and forgotten themselves. Hank tentatively moved to the TV, turning it on but leaving the volume down, while Diana moved to the furniture to set up spaces there and along the floor to make it appear as if they had been occupying them.

Winn shifted from Alex with another whisper before Astra had her hands around his head drawing him near as she spoke to him in Kryptonese calming his nerves and his immediate need to run away.  It was Diana who nudged Hank near his foot as she caught sight of the two, to which the other director merely nodded in acknowledgment that he had heard and seen their behaviorisms in his periphery as he scanned the guide for a movie fitting their would be story.

“I’ll take Winn back in our room,” Alex spoke softly to her sister, a hand tenderly stroking Carter’s back as he peeked at her. “We can make it look like we were oblivious to the drunk idiots in here.” She made a face at the little boy and pretended to try and snatch his nose away, pulling the slightest hint of a giggle from him as a result.

Kara nodded, still placing soft kisses to the crown of Carter’s head as she finally felt him start to relax, at least around the four of them.  Alex waited until Winn let go of Astra from his hug before gently tugging him along with her, relaying their intended plan should the police decide to search the apartment ‘just to be sure’. 

Jeremiah made his way towards Diana and Hank, while Eliza started towards Kara although her eyes were leveled on the woman just over her daughter’s other shoulder, and for good reason.  The tall brunette hadn’t looked away from her since she had released the young boy Alex had taken off with.

It was Astra who straightened to attention now as Eliza seemed to size her up despite Kara being between them.  

Suddenly aware of the tension Kara lifted her attention from Carter to look between the two women and slowly took a step back and out of their sight lines.  

Astra had heard Alex clearly when she shouted, although the few pictures around the apartment would have allowed her the same recognition of who the taller blonde was.  Eliza searched her features, taking note of her posture and minute details she recalled Kara relaying to her about her mother when she was younger.  Realizing this was not her, but the other woman her daughter had spoken about with even more reverence.

“General Astra.”  

The moniker alone made Hank and Diana both look over more visibly than when Astra had been interacting with Winn.  Kara for her merit stepped further back, whispering quietly to Carter who remained awake and focused on the two women interacting with one another despite the space Kara made between herself and them.

Astra held out a hand to the other woman who took it without hesitation, Astra surrounded Eliza’s hand with both of her own, pulling her closer until she pressed the back of it against her chest just over her heart, knuckles turning white in efforts of restraint to keep from crushing the human’s hand.

_“I… do not have the words.”_

Eliza looked confused for a moment only to feel her heart jump into her throat with the banging of the door followed by the identification of the officers on the other side of it. Astra pulled Eliza closer then, urging her protectively behind herself only to have Kara intervene by setting a hand on the flat of Astra’s chest to still her.

“ _They’re just doing their jobs Astra, stay calm and hold Carter.”_ Astra started to protest Kara’s instructions only to have her arms occupied by the very warm, very sleepy little boy.  Eliza came just around her side, brushing the hair from his forehead as Astra wrapped him up almost entirely in the cocoon of her limbs.

“Ashadactyl.” He said with a sleep riddled joy as he relaxed completely against her, the full weight of his little body anchoring her to the spot. He smiled weakly, eyes nearly closed before he startled slightly as if fighting the want to sleep as he recognized the other woman that fluttered across his vision. “Lizasaur.”

Kara opened up the door, offering up apologies and excuses and that once they woke the baby the fun stopped. For good measure the two officers stepped inside, taking in those dispersed around the main floor of the apartment with an air of dismissiveness as they gave cursory scans of the rooms they could easily see.

Diana was seated on the couch, Hank on the arm, both of them the picture of a couple, although Kara swore if need be they would have jumped into federal agent mode, should the officer’s investment in this particular call shift.  Jeremiah was seated with his back to Winn's makeshift computer array, having powered off the screens and turned down what he hoped was the volume on the assumed dispatch scanner. Eliza remained with Astra, a comforting hand settled on her back while the other woman stayed focused on the now sleeping Carter, swaying ever so gently where she stood.

“It is -that- day of the year, thank you for letting us in, just try to keep it at a more reasonable level.”

“We will officer, sorry for the inconvenience.”

“No trouble, bout the easiest call we've had all night.”

With that Kara followed them out, closing the door behind them and waiting until she heard them out on the street getting back into their patrol car. She let out a sigh that spread like wildfire to the others before relaying that they were all clear.  

“That could have gone smoother.” Hank allowed while Kara threw him a glare.

“If you had listened and waited yes it could have.”

“ _I will put this one back to bed,”_ Astra stated quietly before turning from Eliza and the others, passing Alex and Winn as they reemerged.

“Someone needs to explain what is going on.” Alex piped up, as Winn made his way almost protectively towards Jeremiah or more namely his computer systems but made no move to usher him away or say anything.

“Impressive rig you got here kiddo.” Jeremiah offered, seeing the tension ease a bit from the young man.

“Thanks.” Winn edged closer, leaning into the built-in desk he had set his equipment up on, his attention shifting to Henshaw's as he stood.

Astra closed the doors to Kara's bedroom, sealing Carter away before she moved to a corner, setting her back against the bracket of walls and having a clear view of everyone, her stoic militaristic demeanor on full display. Diana remained seated, observing the whole of the room as everyone seemed to get settled. Eliza drew Alex to her, hugging her affectionately and whispering quiet apologies while her daughter focused on Henshaw and his companion. Kara remained on the edge of those gathered, not unlike her aunt although her posture was more relaxed, shoulder pressing into the wall as she crossed her arms over her borrowed shirt.

“This, is” Kara eyed the man taking up center space in her apartment despite referring to his companion. “Director Diana Prince and Director Hank Henshaw.” Kara took a deep breath then as all eyes focused on her. “Just as much as I am Kara Danvers.”

Hank cut his eyes to her then to which she answered back with a look of her own rife with expectancy.  “Honesty and truth, it makes the idea of all this sit...easier”

“What does that even mean?” Winn asked, taking up space against the edge of the built-in, arms crossed tightly over his chest while Jeremiah swore he was almost ready to bolt.

“Like Kara, I am the sole survivor of my planet” As he spoke his eyes gleamed red, and Jeremiah reached over, setting a calming hand around Winn's shoulder, squeezing gently. “The Last Son of Mars.” His whole body shimmered with that same red glow while his physical structure altered to his definitively alien appearance, sucking the air out of the room. “My name is J'onn J'onzz. I, along with Diana run a specialized government organization called the Department of Extranormal Operations. A kind of extraterrestrial defense organization for Earth, and others like myself.”

Winn swore while Astra straightened impossibly further, Diana hid her smirk while Alex broke from her mother and walked right up to the man. She studied him carefully, walking around him with purposeful intent while J’onn tracked her movements. Eliza slid a hand over her mouth to stifle her expression before glancing at Jeremiah and back again.

Alex without fear reached out to him, touching his arm and sliding it to his skin as an incredulous smile crept over her mouth. “You’re cooler to the touch.” She actually let out a small laugh, some hybrid of a giggle and a gasp. “How… how’re you able to change form? Is it an enzyme or some other chemical catalyst your body secretes that allows you to reorganize your DNA? And how do you adjust for the change in body density? How does your respiratory system process the increased oxygen and nitrogen present in our air that…”

It was J’onn’s turn to laugh causing her hand to jump away with a sudden apology at not asking and treating him like a kind of object.

“No need to apologize, Alex” His polyphonic voice around her name made her look up then to the others who were on the verge of their own curious amusement.

“What's so funny?”

“Like daughter, like mother.”

Diana stood then, coming up beside J’onn to look down at Alex. “I am Diana, Princess of Themyscira or in more understandable terms, I am what your ancient philosophers call an Amazon.”

“Holy sh-”

“Alexandra.” Both of her parents spoke up then causing Winn to snicker.

“ _You said government_ ,” Astra spoke dangerously in Martian, her eyes coming to life with a faint glow and subsequently alleviating the room of its amusement once more.  J’onn’s immediate attention drew him closer to the woman only to be intercepted in part by Alex.

“ _For now.”_ He responded in her own native language, feeling the tension in the room threatening to dissolve the more amicable situation. Alex kept a hand on his chest for a moment, urging him to still before turning to look at Astra, making her own way over only to be surpassed by her own mother.

“These were not the people that had you,”  Eliza assured, watching those glowing eyes that could incinerate her at a moments notice flicker over and linger. “I swear on Kara’s life they weren’t.”  Astra lifted her chin high, eyeing Eliza as if she were an insect.  “Had you not run, and I can understand why you did, they would have found you and your pod. They were trying to stop those people.”

_“I should trust this why? Because you swear on my niece?”_

Eliza tried to interpret the words only to hear Winn behind her translate them before nodding.  

“A-Alex sent me a blood sample, from her hospital.” She saw Astra’s eyes cut to her daughter and stepped closer again, pulling the woman’s attention back. “Before now, before any of this.  Parts of that sample match what we found on the pod, and I have a theory that they match you.”

“ _Why are you telling me this? It is not exactly favorable to your intention right now.”_

Eliza waited until Winn provided her a more definitive translation before coming to stand a few inches in front of Astra.  “Those people need to be stopped.  They need to answer for what they have done to you, what they have tried to do to Kara-”

“What do you mean what they tried to do to me?” Kara spoke up then, still poised to intercept anyone who made any kind of threatening movement while also feeling the wind of this whole endeavor leaving her sails.

“They believe,” Jeremiah spoke up then, pulling his daughter's attention. “That accident with the helicopter was no accident, it was intentional to draw you out.”

Kara felt herself sink into the nearest chair, the ramifications of that comment and what she had come from before finding out about the D.E.O. settling on her shoulders like ten tons of concrete as she herself tried to wrap her mind around the intricacies of everything she was hearing.

Eliza held her hand back out to Astra, watching as the other woman studied Kara and undoubtedly the others, seeing the depths of realization settle into her frame and hopefully her sensibilities.  

“Theirs is the only voice anyone in that government is willing to listen to right now because they showed progress over the others that had you. This needs to be reinforced in order to root out those that are still working to achieve the opposite so we can change things even more.”

“ _You are attempting to appeal to my prior situation with my own planet.”_ Astra drawled, taking a half step forward.

“Is it working?” She challenged after Winn interpreted the words, not moving one inch despite Astra’s invasion of her personal space.

Astra shifted her jaw visibly, she understood exactly what it was Eliza was trying to do, to instill inside her.  While it might not have been the method she herself would have carried out under different circumstances, it was indeed working.  Given their limited resources and shadowy operation to date, it was a far better option in the long run for all of them.  

“I have already started the process of turning this organization into one less beholden to this specific government and into something more global and independent, while still providing a seat at the proverbial table for multiple governments to be a part but not in charge of what we are starting here,” Diana added, her gaze circling the room and lingering on the four who had been trying to go about this all on their own.

“I know you want to help, just like I and my husband do,” Eliza whispered as Astra glared at her. “I know there are a lot of other things you’re not saying that are swirling around inside that you want to do too.  -Especially- to those people who had you, to anyone who would choose weaponization and annihilation as an answer to their fear.”  Eliza stood toe to toe with the alien, their heights nearly equal as they drank one another in. “I would kill for my daughters, but I also know I would do anything I could to protect them to ensure that I would never have to follow through with that threat. I know you would too, so I am asking you please, join us, help us and others with this the right way.”

Astra reached between them after a tense riddled series of heartbeats, encircling Eliza’s hand and squeezing firmly. “El mayarah.”

J’onn slowly shifted back to his human form while Diana squeezed his shoulder before taking a seat once more.  Winn looked at Jeremiah who winked, quietly ensuring him everything would be okay while Alex made her way to both Astra and her mother.

Kara, on the other hand, rubbed her hands over her face, fingers settling around her mouth as she supported her chin on her palms pulling a slow breath inward.

“I just gave an interview to Cat.”


	28. Another Week, Another Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat begins to make her intentions towards Kara known despite navigating her feelings for Supergirl while the Luthros dig deeper into thwarting National City's newly revealed hero. The arrival of someone connected to Cat throws everybody off.

“You and a guest are cordially invited to attend CatCo Worldwide Media’s CatCo Magazine Launch Gala Saturday, February 26th 8pm to 1am Hosted at The Seraphim Hotel within The Angelus Ballroom (Special room rates available upon request, first come first serve) Special Edition CatCo Magazine Issues will be provided (1 per guest) Exclusive Guest of Honor: National City’s own Supergirl.  Dinner Cocktails Formal Attire. Please RSVP no later than the 23rd.” Alex could barely keep a straight face reading over the invitation in her best impression of some kind of royal herald.

Kara let out a grumble of a sound, causing Carter to laugh before she turned the noise into a growl, tickling his tummy and sending him into a fit of giggles and pleas to stop.

“You have got to be kidding me right now!” Alex exclaimed laying out on the couch reading over the invitation Kara had brought home with her.  “When did you agree to that?”

“I didn’t,” Kara stated, bouncing Carter around as she gathered a few more things, shoving them in her bag.

Alex laughed aloud, sitting up in a flourish. “Oh god. That director guy doesn’t know either does he.”

“Hank.. err J'onn... Hank. No, he doesn’t know either. Yet.”

“Well, you did convince him that Cat’s article wasn’t exactly the worst idea.”

“Diana helped.”

Alex still snickered, flicking the invitation. “This... Just wow. I’m not so sure she would with this.”

“Yeah well, maybe they should meet up with Cat and try to convince her otherwise.”

“Is that why she sent you home early?”

“No, it’s why I left early, and..” Kara snagged the invitation and handed over Carter who squeed as Alex fell back onto the couch with him. “Why you’re coming with me to watch him.”

“That’s-wait, what?”

“I need you to watch Carter.”

“Okay so leave him-”

“I need you watch Carter at his place while I go have a chat with his mother.” She turned back to Alex upon hearing her protest. “In my suit.” Her look was pointed as she glanced at Carter then back up again.  

Alex sighed with a grumble, turning her focus back to Carter and hoisting him up in the air before letting him appear to free fall in her grasp sending a peel of giggles into the air.

Honestly, she was thankful for the distraction, ever since her parents and the two directors had shown up it had been a bit lonely at the apartment.  Astra, while reluctant, was working with her parents on the pod and, from what the woman had assured her rather vehemently, was keeping an eye on the rest of them for their own safety.  

Winn had immediately gotten entangled with the facilities tech systems, working with some woman named Vasquez who promised to look out for him while also integrating their systems with the ones Winn had constructed while in their apartment.  Given the unlimited resources the D.E.O. had to offer in order to expand his prototype, Kara vouching for the agent, and the fact Astra would be there was enough to ease his apprehension for the time being.

Which of course left Alex alone for most of the day, what with Kara at CatCo and the others at the D.E.O.  She had kept busy enough with coursework and shifts at the hospital but it wasn’t the same coming home to an empty apartment where there had seemed to be so much life in it before.

“I’ll be right back.” Kara uttered, closing her bedroom doors behind herself and leaving Alex with Carter.  

Kara rubbed her face a minute, wondering how in the hell she was supposed to manage all of this, and why hadn’t Cat even mentioned in passing about Supergirl and this launch event.  Kara had found out about that little additive of her required super presence when she had opened the invitation Cat had presented her with while in the car this morning, telling her to bring Alex along.

Which prompted her early departure with Carter in order to address the situation with the others at the D.E.O. and eventually, Cat herself.

For starters, it had been odd to actually receive the said invitation from Cat first hand this morning, maybe even disappointing in a way. Having held some unconscious hope that Cat would ask her directly, as her date. That alone had enough implications and scandals but Kara had only come to that conclusion on the car ride home. It was another to realize she was also the supposed guest of honor, or at least Supergirl was. 

Either way, it would have been nice to have been asked.

Although the exchange from this morning was not without its merits. In fact, it had been a running list of ongoing surprises from the woman ever since Kara, as Supergirl, had given Cat that interview.  Enough that Kara was toying with the thought that Cat might actually have discerned that she and Supergirl were the same person.

When Cat had arrived to retrieve Carter the prior Saturday morning after that interview, she had brought breakfast and even offered to take her to lunch for her overnight troubles.  The only reason Kara hadn’t taken her up on the offer was that her parents had stayed over.  Given how the whole of her extended family, chosen family, and the two wayward D.E.O. directors had stayed up all night running everything they could conceive of and more until Hank and Diana had left with the break of the dawn.

Once Cat had seen Eliza and Jeremiah in the background of her living room nursing coffees and looking exhausted her demeanor shifted and the offer had been rescinded for another time.

However, throughout the week minute indications of Cat’s unspoken affection for her had filtered through the office all week long.  Monday had seen flowers delivered to her office, a stout vase brimming with yellow lilies and coral roses all accented in some kind of lacey looking buds wrapped in fern leaves. When she checked the card there was no sender, no signature, just plain type font saying 'for you'.

But. 

The way Cat had suddenly appeared inside her office to watch her receive them despite the plethora of meetings she had scheduled, that she went so far as to make a point of warning Kara that said schedule would negate their preexisting lunch with Carter and even Cat's heading home at a decent time was just the start of it.

Tuesday, Cat brought lunch to her instead of the other way around and extended their interlude to nearly two hours contrary to the typical forty-five. Asking her about her family in casual context, how Alex was progressing at Pharros despite being privy to those results what with Cat being a board member. Generic get to know you conversation that shifted focus as Carter interjected here and there with tales of his day.

Wednesday, had Cat asking her to stay late instead of going home and a few hours later when the vast majority of CatCo had gone home, Cat had brought her dinner, explaining that even if she hadn't the time to make it, she knew how to use a phone. She also stated it was well past her due to reciprocating in that arena given how many time Kara had prepped and readied dinner for the three of them lately. When they were finished, instead of sending her home with Carter, Cat insisted on taking her home first telling her to enjoy the rest of the evening for herself.

Thursday, had seemed almost disappointing by comparison. Cat had only been in her office for ten minutes at most, no lunch and by three o'clock had sent Austin to retrieve her and Carter bound for home. The benefit being getting to see Adelaide outside of their usual Mondays. Or so she thought. Halfway undressed she couldn't help but think back on last night, teeth fitting around her bottom lip and worrying it thoughtfully. 

 

_Carter was already down for the night, given the hour he wouldn't be up again unless Cat woke him on purpose.  Dinner was put away, ready to be reheated though she knew Cat wouldn't take the time if it was just herself and as a result, Kara was left to her own devices. No sooner was she about to select another book from Cat's vast library did she hear the lock turning. She grabbed her bag and keys on instinct after shrugging into her jacket, knowing with as busy as the day had seemed the other woman would most likely be ready to head upstairs for the night intent on finishing up the day's work before retiring completely._

_Instead, she was greeted with an expression of disappointment and an unsettled hesitation written over Cat's entire body so easy to read that Kara actually felt regretful for assuming anything._

_“I… should have called you,” Cat spoke as she shut the door behind herself, locking it back while shrugging out of her coat. Given Kara's state of readiness, she gathered the woman had somewhere else to be and Cat had squandered the opportunity she had built up in herself all week long._

_“You should have?” Kara questioned, taking note as the woman set another bag down that she didn't recall her having earlier._

_“You have someplace to be don't you.” Cat's response was a statement of fact, a resignation to a question she wasn't sure she should even be asking._

_Kara looked confused, watching this usually polished and confident woman stumble. She swayed her head casually, eyeing Cat in the process, realizing she had changed clothing at some point from what she had been wearing at work prior and that even her makeup was softer, more natural. “It's...later than usual and I thought you might want to just turn in for the night once you got home given the day.”_

_Cat glanced at her watch, noticing that it was just after nine, and half wondered if she was subverting herself with her cryptic nature and unclaimed displays towards Kara all week. One had to remember there were two of them, not just someone following her lead blindly or capable of reading her every intended thought. Was she so horribly rusty at this?  Let one's actions speak, that was wooing, no not wooing, that was romance, wasn't it?  Hell, Cat couldn't even remember the last time she actually bought someone flowers... Wait. Had she ever bought anyone flowers?_

_“I should apolo-”  
_ _“I can stay.” Kara rushed, seeing a bit of light swirl back into Cat's eyes at her interruption. “Uh, unless you've planned something that requires leaving but I don't see a babysitter saving Sara being outside waiting with Austin or...?”_

_It was Cat's turn to shake her head then, swallowing thoughtfully as the reality of what she was doing, what she had been doing all week rooted itself around her heart like a cage._

_“Ok.” Kara tested, depositing her bag back on the couch and prying her coat off slowly while Cat watched. It was curiously intimate and just as soon as she had that thought, the feeling dissolved into anxiousness as she folded the thing over the arm of the couch and walked closer. “Can I help… somehow or?”_

_Cat shook her head again, clearing the fog before handing Kara the canvas bag she had brought with her. “Think you could take this upstairs? There's a fire pit on the balcony, can you-”_

_Kara nodded absently as Cat's voice halted abruptly, their collective focus leveled on the mutual tangle of their fingers with the transfer of that bag from one woman to the other._

_“I'll meet you up there,” Cat assured, finally letting go of the bag as Kara backed away with a small stumble before heading upstairs._

_Cat watched Kara leave, once she knew the other woman was clear of the stairs she started gathering a few other things from a nearby closet and the kitchen. She stopped on her own way up in order to check on Carter, kissing his hair with the weight of a whisper before continuing to the balcony. There she saw Kara assembling the wood Cat had preset beside the pit around the starter log that was already glowing with blue and green flames. As she approached Kara stood slowly, taking in the objects Cat had in her hands and leaning her head curiously._

_“Am I… are we…” with each struggle of her sentence Cat moved closer until they could touch one another. “Is this a date?”_

_The words made Cat hesitate, her grasp on the blanket and bottle of wine tightening, she had pre-arranged the furniture the day before, having set the oversized lounger precariously close to the fire pit and even placed a heat lamp just beyond it in case the weather turned colder than anticipated.  Given all she had done throughout the week concerning Kara, coupled with how this all appeared now she would have thought it was obvious. In fact, it might be considered a third date, maybe even a fourth..._

_“It doesn't have to be.”_

_Kara stepped forward, dragging the blanket from Cat's grip and essentially pulling her closer in the process. “What, if I said I wanted it to be?”_

_Cat swallowed visibly, walking past Kara but not without curling her fingers around the other woman's forearm without looking back and gently pulling her along._

_"Spread that out,” she said as Kara was released to do so.  Realizing how large the blanket was after trying to unfold its edges, Kara found the two sides she was looking for before casting the thing wide like a net, letting it drift into place over the furniture. Cat climbed on to the lounger first, sitting on one corner cross-legged before holding a hand out. Kara knelt on to the cushion, taking Cat’s hand and sitting beside her, side pressed into the back cushion as she pulled one knee up and folded the other beneath herself before doubling the blanket over the two of them to keep out the chill._

_“Is this alright?” Cat asked, adjusting herself to face Kara as she wedged the bottle into the folds of the blanket that could support its weight and offered Kara a glass._

_“Definitely unconventional from any date I've been on," She saw Cat's expression fall before her usual mask slid into place.  Without missing a beat Kara scooted a little closer, offering her glass up. "I like it,” she was grateful her body temperature was high, knowing it would do wonders for keeping them warm beneath the cover against the cool air. "It fits you."_

_"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat questioned with a hint of incredulity in her voice as she poured wine to the halfway point within Kara's glass before repeating the same with her own._

_"You're unconventional, it's a welcomed change."_

_"Oh yes, single multi-divorcee mother of a teenager and a toddler." Cat scoffed. "Can't get much more unconventional than that."_

_"Wanna bet." Kara's voice was hollow against the inside of her glass as she took a sip of her wine, thankful this one was at least fruity knowing the alcohol did absolutely nothing to her._

_Cat stared hard at her with the challenge, eyes searching out Kara's features as the barest hint of a smile graced her own. She licked her lips absently, drawing closer with a bit of a scoot here and a bit of a lean there, arm resting on the back of the lounger as her free fingers toyed with her own hair._

_"If you've got something that can surpass it Danvers, I'm all ears."_

_Kara allowed a small smile, easing her glass down as she looked dead on at Cat. "I would have cited that you agreed this is a date, our date, when it's probably closer to the twentieth or so we've had counting all those lunches and dinners after work."_

_Cat was struck dumb, drawing a breath to counter Kara's statement before Kara leaned in conspiratorially._

_"This week alone, I would count three including this one."  She lifted an eyebrow for emphasis to her teasing before letting her smile spread knowingly._

_Cat felt the flush erupt from her chest, thankful for the heavy sweater she had on, the corners of her mouth twitching with the start of a smile before she reached between them, relinquishing Kara's glass from her fingers before leaning away to set them down with a gentle clink. Kara watched her carefully, feeling a heavy wave of tension coiling around her lower spine as she watched Cat internally converse with herself before the woman was looking back at her, mind all made up._ _Kara felt the struggle to breathe under that look as Cat straightened before curling a hand around the back of the lounger and pulling herself considerably closer._

_Kara curled her fingers around the down of the blanket around them as Cat's fingers slid into her hair, thumbs smoothing over her cheeks and nudging her glasses just so as she felt her lungs burning for more oxygen while she stayed right where she was.  Cat pushed up onto her knees, tilting Kara's head back slightly as she held her._

_"Twenty, or three," The round of Cat's nose brushed against Kara's then, breath catching as a smile finally pulled at the corners of her mouth as Kara's hands surrounded her waist. "This is overdue."_

_Kara felt the barest flick of Cat's tongue teasing her upper lip, the pull of air as the woman sucked in a shocked breath at their initial contact before-_

The knock on her door pulled her from the memory, though the clinging remnants of her and Cat the night before clung to her as if she were full of static electricity.  In an almost comical parallel, she recalled the interruption that had taken her from Cat's lips just like the knock now.

“Just a minute.” She pulled down her sweater, hiding her suit from view before opening the doors to a waiting Alex, Carter and now Austin.

“Sorry I know you have to go get Adelaide.”

“No problem just making sure I didn't need to get her first and come back." He answered.

“Ready when you are.” Alex chimed in, as Carter mimicked her and the four made their way out.

 

**\-------**

 

Supergirl landed at the D.E.O., passing through the building access reserved for her only to be immediately greeted by J’onn once the security doors opened with her identification confirmation.

“This is unexpected.” He admitted, eying her as she pried down her mask and stepped up to him, handing over her invitation.  He merely glanced at the object, not even bothering to read it before tilting his head at her.

“Am I your plus one?”

Kara looked utterly confused, pulling the invitation back before starting to speak.

“Secretary Marsden called.”  

“Sec...Secretary of State Marsden?”

Hank nodded and gestured for her to follow as he made his way into the next corridor.

“Aside from yourself, and a little help from Director Prince, she has also voiced her approval of this article and apparent tell all about you to the world.  Despite my own objections and those of others, she’s found that it lays a kind of PR groundwork for us in the long run.”

Kara actually stopped, to which Hank took a few more steps ahead of her before turning partially to regard the woman.  “So… you want me to go to this?”

“No, not particularly.  I think it will make you and anyone there a target.  Including Secretary Marsden.  Your Aunt Astra agrees, however, it does allow a level of saturation with the public that our organization, or others for that matter, can’t seem to penetrate on a kind of organic level.”

“So.. I have your permission but not your blessing. Not that I actually -need- your permission-”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves… Supergirl.”  He crossed his hands over his chest then, looking her over for another minute before the corner of his mouth quirked. “Despite some of our reservations on the matter, we do recognize it for what it can be and the best part is, you won’t be alone.”

“I.. won’t?”

Hank shook his head knowingly. “Absolutely not, Marsden has her own pull with Cat Grant, something about them going to college with one another.  She’s offered to speak at that little party, I suppose to introduce you.”

“In exchange for what?” She understood his tone now, and its implications just not the details of such.

Hank made a small circular motion in the air. “We all get to go as Marsden’s condition. She speaks and gets to bring more than just plus one.” He actually winked at her, watching her expression run through a myriad of emotions.

“I… all...all? Who is “all”?”

“Diana, I’m considering allowing Astra to go, being a tactician and all. Oh and of course me. Your parents will remain here for their protection but will be connected through our interlink along with Vasquez and Winn.”

Kara wasn’t sure she liked this side of him or not, but now she was trying to envision the joy of not only running around as herself but to have to appear as Supergirl all while…

“Aside from that, which I appreciate you bringing to my attention despite how hesitant I’m sure you were to do so… why are you suited up?”

Kara looked down at herself then back to Hank. “Ca..Ms.Grant never actually asked me. Supergirl me if.. I would..” Her words faded as Hank actually erupted with laughter, and for a moment she wondered if someone hadn’t slipped something into his coffee.

“I’ll have to relay that one to your Aunt.” Hank offered after another moment, watching her expression become even more bewildered before he waved her off.  “Don’t keep her waiting, that woman is likely to schedule you for some kind of talk show the longer you let her think she can just by willing it.”

Kara backed up a step, nearly falling over herself before she pulled her mask up and gave him a disjointed thank you before turning to leave the way she came.

Hank watched her depart with a small shake of his head, turning back to resume his original path down the corridor towards the elevator in order to return to the main floor. When the lift opened he was barred by the aforementioned Astra, her expression beyond her normal level of stoicism.

_“There is a problem.”_

 

**\-------**

 

“Given the vague location of the galaxy…” Lex tipped his head, marking up some kind of galactic map stretched over his desk. “The time it took her to get here…  coupled with the crash…” He circled various areas of the map before sliding varied earthen geographic charts closer, marking different years along the map and known points of impact.  “Working backward from when that prison ship landed…”

He was speculating an awful lot, trying to pinpoint something that at best sat within a five to fifteen-year span give or take. He pushed a few maps aside, “Proximity of our own galaxy to hers…” he continued talking to himself, scanning over the images ahead of him in order to give his mind a broader picture of all the events before a slow, wicked smile curled one corner of his mouth.   Hands skimmed over his keyboard effortlessly then. “This is amazing.”  He typed a few other commands before reaching for the phone.  “Too good to be true.”  

“Too good to be true is an understatement.” Lillian supplied from her place on the couch, The Tribune held open, “I Spent the Night With Supergirl” was the headline, and beneath were the details of the article’s origin and the first set of paragraphs Cat had penned herself.  Promising the reader that the rest of the interview would be made available with the CatCo Magazine premiere issue set to launch by the start of the next month.  

“Nearly six feet tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, and might as well have said her cause was truth, justice, and the American way.  She’s practically a girl scout.”  Lillian made a series of disgusted noises as she read the exclusive preview of her sisters feature article.  “Honestly, your colors are showing Kitty.”   Lillian folded the paper back to the cover, scanning over another security cam footage still shot of the helicopter incident as if willing the pixels to formulate the identity of this quote-unquote Supergirl.

“Which again gives us an edge.”  Lex offered, holding up a hand when his mother began to request an explanation just as the other end of the phone picked up. “Assemble a team, retrieval, slim negotiation.  Kid gloves.”  He nodded slightly as his mother stood up, slowly walking over to the desk as she listened. “Addis Ababa… I want all of it, every bit you can bring back, negotiate wisely but if you don’t get it, don’t bother coming back. Understand?” He listened to the individual on the other end before returning the phone to its cradle.

Lillian slid the Daily Planet over to her lap, eyeing the scathing undercover report from one Lois Lane, the name dredging up a vast array of memories and sending her on a distracted path of what if’s and how different her life might be, were she to have two sons instead of one loyal son and an illegitimate daughter whose very existence threatened Lex’s own legacy.

As a result, she missed the initial start of Lex’s sudden epiphany and to hide her distraction tipped her head inquisitively and looked up at him as he paused for her undivided attention.  

“In the interview, she states that Krypton exploded and that we’ll see as much here within this year.  If we extrapolate the time from the Area 51 crash, give or take, plus the distance of that particular planet, assuming I’m looking at the correct one mentioned.”

“To the point Lex.”

“It’s impossible for her to have come from that region as she claims, being over twenty-one while said home planet’s explosion will be visible to us this year. You found that crash site when again?”

“1993”

“Exactly, and nothing else crashed along with it.”

“Meaning?”

“No meteor showers or deposits aside from Perseids in August and Geminids in December of that year.  While the showers in August were far more spectacular, even you stated in some report that it was due to the microparticle breakup and debris that particular ship generated with its arrival.” Lex leaned in then, seeing his mother’s agitation clearly written on her features.

“That star is over twenty-seven light years away…”

Lillian straightened, her mind processing the information laid out in front of her as she studied her son’s face.  He was eager, excited as if just having discovered the cure for cancer while simultaneously determining how to market it for his own profit.  She dipped her gaze to the charts across his desk.  

“1981..” She breathed, searching her own memories internally before giving out an unbelieving laugh.

“This is destiny Mother.”  

Lillian blinked up at him then, eyes narrowing ever so faintly in expectancy.

“You’ve always told me, there are times, moments when some things must die in order for others to live.”

“Alexander..” She warned him, her tone no-nonsense as he merely eased into his chair, pulling the screen around showing her an image from National Geographic concerning an unexplained series of meteor impacts in Addis Ababa as well as surrounding locations across Ethiopia.

“Fragments from her planet were flung all across space when it exploded.  It is reasonable to assume, that some of those particles and debris made their way here, just like their little ships.”  

Lillian sat on the edge of his desk, supporting herself on one hand as she leaned into him as she followed his reasoning.  “To us, they’re just meteorites, but to her, the level of specific radioactivity is so high to anyone from the planet Krypton just like our own Earth would be to us were the conditions reversed.”

“It’s lethal to her, at the very least debilitating.” Lex grinned fully, teeth practically gleaming. “Which means we can weaponize it, and this impossible Girl of Steel as Aunt Kitty has portrayed her…”

“Is just as defenseless to us as we are to her.”  

“I was born for greatness, you said as much with my own name Mother.”  

“Good boy.”  Lillian hmmed, slipping off his desk effortlessly as she went to retrieve something from her purse.  When she returned, she held it up between two fingers.  “This means you get to be my plus one as your reward.”

“Plus one?”  Lex leaned forward, plucking the invitation card from her, eyeing the golden sigil embossed on the back that this irritant of a superhero wore across her chest interlaced with his Aunt’s own logo.  He turned it over again, reading its contents before starting to laugh.  

 

**\-------**

 

Cat scanned over the news reports around the world displayed on her screens along the walls in her office.  Eyeing a report concerning a museum in Ethiopia that had been broken into, two people killed and all for some hunk of a meteorite that’s been sitting there since the 80’s.  It would have just been a blip on the radar, barely worthy of making the lower third until four other locations had reported similar incidents.

That wasn’t what had the whole of her attention, quite the contrary in fact.  She looked away from the monitors down to the Daily Planet laid out in her lap, the top headline displaying pictures of her city and a candid shot that the news outlet had undoubtedly paid some amateur for, given its poor quality.  It showed off who she knew now was Supergirl, blurred and head up, dressed in something other than the suit Cat had seen her first hand in.  

She let out a dark sigh, reading over Lois’ article outlying how the supposed accident that had made global news, no thanks in part due to CatCo itself, was actually a direct attack on the city itself.  Unnamed sources were tricky enough, especially with a claim such as this, but it was the heavier implication of connections that had been made through those sources and to whom the orchestrator of this supposed targeted incident pointed to.

She had thought about calling Lois, for more than one reason, the least of which was this article and just as she turned her chair to grab her cell phone off the desk the door to her office burst open with a loud bang nearly startling her to a stand.

“What the hell do you think-”

“She’s here!”

Cat looked confused, The Planet forgotten to her desk as she rose from her seat. “Who?”

“ _SHE_ she… the-”

“For the love of the English language spit it out, Katy.”

“Supergirl. She’s here.”

Cat had to hold onto her desk to keep herself steady as her eyes went wide. “What do you mean she’s here?”  

All Karen could do was turn and point, causing Cat to lean to the side a bit to see where she was directing her attention only to zero in on the floating figure outside her building from across the bullpen where more than half the floor was starting to collect.

Cat swore internally, prying her glasses off her face and running her hands through her hair as an afterthought.  “Where’s Olsen?”

“Wha...I don’t-”

“James Olsen, find him, make sure he has his camera and pick your jaw up off the floor.”

Sound advice, even if she was partially giving it to herself.  She straightened her skirt, stepping back into her heels before rounding her desk and making her way out of the office.  With the staccato drum of her gait driving into the ground, half her employees suddenly remembered they were still at work, even if it was close to the end of the day and upon seeing the line their boss was making parted like the Red Sea.

As Cat approached the panoramic windows the heroine just outside it drifted closer, the amusement on her features evident despite her half-shroud. Cat herself set her weight on one hip, arms crossing over her chest as she eyed the woman with the audience of her employees who had become so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

“My office is over there.” Cat pointed over her shoulder, watching Supergirl’s eyes track to the location before looking back to the woman, head tipping slightly.  

Supergirl pointed to herself, then to Cat then made an exaggerated motion to her office.

Cat pursed her lips, shifting her jaw to appear as if she were irked instead of amused before making a grandiose ‘after you’ gesture.  Supergirl floated backward, giving a small wink to the other woman before leaning backward completely and spiraling up and around the corner of the building, taking half of the employees with her in their wonderment.

Without so much as a glance to anyone else, Cat turned on the ball of her foot, heading right back towards her office only to be intercepted by James who for his merit was lowering his camera.  

“You wanted to see me, Ms. Grant?”

“Don’t go very far, use Kara’s office if you need to, she’s already taken Carter home for the day. Understand?”

He looked confused for only a moment before nodding and splitting away from her as she continued on to her office.  “Karen, hold all calls, make sure the world is ending before you interrupt anything and tell everyone to get back to work.” The last bit of her statement was loud enough for the entire floor to hear as she stalked into her office and let the doors shut behind her.

She caught movement out of the corner of her eye, veering off at the same pace towards her balcony, moving the door aside and stepping onto its concrete overhang shielding the pair of them from prying eyes, save possibly one.

“The ever elusive Supergirl.”

“Ms. Grant,” She offered, still floating away from the balcony as Cat stepped up to the edge of the concrete railing. “In my defense, I have been a little occupied with protecting the city and all.”

Cat nodded in an exaggerated manner.  “What brings you to my humble balcony?”

“I saw your announcement in the Tribune, about the magazine, nice article by the way, or start of one it seems.”

Cat mm’d, leaning into the stone as Supergirl floated closer her cape fluttering brilliantly. “I would have let you read it but you didn’t exactly reveal a means or method with which to get in contact with you directly.  Now that you mention it, do you have a cell phone?”

Supergirl actually laughed giving a small shake of her head. “I hear everything, remember.”

“Right. Should have remembered to just invoke your name and expect you to answer within the hour.”  Cat studied the other woman carefully, despite the lower dip of the sun it was a sight to behold.  The hero of National City in broad daylight, outside the balcony of her building casually talking away as if it were a commonplace occurrence.

“Seems you already have, I have it on good authority you sent out invitations to this launch event and I’m the guest of honor.  That seems important to have brought up before publishing it I would think.”   Her tone wasn’t exactly accusatory, but neither was it inviting.  

Cat couldn’t exactly disagree with the woman, and given her tone, she wondered for a moment if she had irrevocably damaged their fledgling relationship.

“I was planning-”

“On what exactly? Sending an air writer up and asking me to attend?”

“If need be.” Cat shot back, straightening up a bit.

Supergirl floated closer, enough for the two of them to reach out and touch one another. “You've been planning that launch for a month, you could have offered the other night, I might have surprised you and said yes.”

Cat felt her resolve slip, shoulders dropping slightly. “How…?” She knew she was pushing it with those invitations especially with the truth of Supergirl's statement on the matter of planning. “So you're not coming.”

“I have my sources. Just like you.” Supergirl pitched up and over the other woman, landing soundlessly on the concrete behind her. “And maybe I'm saying it would have been nice to have been asked, instead of feeling obligated.” She moved away from Cat without looking at her, heading to the side edge of the balcony and staring dead on at the man behind the glass taking her picture. “As much as it would to be asked if you could take my photographs as well.”

She looked back over her shoulder at the woman who was at a loss for words. “I can destroy them from here, but I don't think you want the bill for his six thousand dollar equipment”

“I..will make him delete them unless you want-”

“What I want,” she took a deep breath, turning completely and walking Cat backward into the wall secluding them to the blind spot she knew existed there from her office and Cat's. “Is for you to have discussed something like that with me first.”

Cat had her hands against Supergirl's abdomen instead of the wall, even if the muscles there felt like one. Her own back was flush against the concrete and while she wasn't frightened this was far from the last time they had been this close.  Supergirl leaned down so they were at eye level, her hands pressing out on either side of Cat's body along the stone, the words building inside her only serving to drive Hank and Astra's points about this whole scenario home.

“I have to go, not just because I would have wanted to, but because you may have put yourself in far more danger than you are aware. That interview was one thing, anyone could have that, but this… it sets you apart, it stirs the question of just how well you might know me and makes you a target for anyone who might find my very existence to be something that needs to be snuffed out or turned into some kind of science experiment.”

Cat swallowed hard, drawing in a weighted breath only to have Supergirl straighten away and appear halfway across the balcony from her in a split second before James came rushing in, Karen clinging to his arm desperately while the two argued.

“She just disappeared and-”

“And what?” Cat's irritated voice cutting the two of them apart into silence like a knife. “You just rush in here like some kind of knight in shining armor? Thank you, you young idiot but I'll save myself and should that fail I’ll take her.” Cat gestured towards Supergirl who straightened with a stretch of her shoulders to make herself appear larger than she was as Karen and James looked at her.

“Get out of my office, both of you. And James, leave the camera.”

“Wait, what?”

“Whatever is on there is the property of CatCo per that little contract you signed despite being on loan. Leave. The. Camera.”

Karen apologized quietly, while James reluctantly set his camera on the nearest surface before backing out of Cat's eye line. Her assistant ensured he left her office completely and didn't venture into that adjacent office again while Cat took a tentative series of steps towards the caped woman who remained.

“I’m sorry.” Cat appealed, as Supergirl studied her carefully while she approached. “You're very right and I should have considered that, and you.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“So can I.” Cat countered.

“You’re going to make it impossible to make sure I can when you can't,” Supergirl warned, a part of her was already begging her to rip off her mask and expose herself. Especially after a conversation like this. She allowed Cat to get close enough to flatten her hand across her abdomen only to reach down and redirect it to press against the symbol across her chest.  “I know, how important you are to others,” _how important you are to me,_ she thought.

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t being selfish about it and allowed that and what I can only explain as excitement to fuel those choices.” Cat curled her hand into a fist, letting the drum of the other woman’s heart rap against her knuckles. “I would like you to come, I would like your picture but I can explain it away and I can use security footage from-”

“I will come, and as I said before, I trust you, more than I might any other. In that, I trust in the choice you make with those pictures.  Should you use them. This is all one more reason why.”

“Why?”

“Why I never came out before. Not entirely because of myself but for the people I might risk because of who I am and what I can do and what some people will assume I can do out of fear.”

“I'm so sorry.” Cat murmured drawing her hand away only to feel Supergirl tug on her, daring to draw her closer. Cat allowed the pull, stepping into the gesture until Supergirl was wrapped around her completely.  Supergirl closed her eyes in the embrace, feeling Cat tense for only a moment before tightening her arms around her body and holding her closer.

“I know you,” Cat said against her chest, cheek pressed into her shoulder, her own eyes closing to the gentle pressure of Supergirl's chin against her hair. “I know I do, I can feel it as strongly as I can feel my own heart beating.”

Supergirl tipped her head slightly, the urge to confess who she really was on the brim of her tongue.

“I don't believe that I could feel this strongly, this safe, just because of what you can do or what you are,” Cat confessed, fighting the urge to step back and pry that mask of the other woman’s face and not look away this time.

“Just call for me, I’ll find you.”

And just like that Cat was alone again on the rustle of the wind.


	29. Saturday Mornings Are For The Birds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat grows closer to her unexpected visitor much to the misunderstanding of Kara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cause you all needed some angst...amiright?

Cat stretched languidly, having actually allowed herself to sleep in, a rarity she hardly afforded herself but the way the past few weeks had progressed she allowed it. This once at least.  She drew in a deep breath, turning over slowly, dragging the density of the covers with her, relishing in the down of warmth that surrounded her.  

Hands curled around the edges, pulling the top cover higher, twisting it under her arms so that she could surround the lower half of her features and observe the rising sun through her windows.  Her body responded first, sending off sparklers of awareness across her nerves as she took in a breath finding herself inundated with the delicate remnants of one Kara Danvers.

She was being indulgent, perhaps even ridiculous as she huffed out her exhale, the blanket from the night before last topping her bed where it had been previously tucked around the two of them out on her balcony.   Instantly her mind brought to life the startling weight of emotions that had nearly overwhelmed her with just the barest touches between them.

Closing her eyes she thought back on it, the inviting swell of Kara’s lips just as she was about to devour them only to have their moment interrupted and thoroughly shattered by the harsh knocking of someone at her front door that could be heard all the way from the roof.

Even now she remembered Kara’s expression when the two of them had begrudgingly left their balcony nest and rushed to answer the door to ensure Carter wasn’t woken up.  The way she quietly gathered her things and slid out without so much as a goodbye, while Cat herself had been swallowed up by the young brunette with ice for eyes that had been waiting on the other side, made her heart heavy even now.

Cat let out a gruff sound, dropping her arms away and taking the comforter with her as she recalled the day before, which had started off like any other.  She had given Kara the invitation, told her to bring Alexandra in the car on the way to work but it wasn’t until Kara said she needed to leave early that implications of the past forty eight hours and how drastically obtuse they had become, struck Cat like a sucker punch to the gut.

“How did you manage to fuck this up without even trying.” Cat said aloud, looking to the ceiling in search of all the answers.  She thought about Kara, and how much she had changed from when they had first met. Or more, how much she had allowed Kara to change her when Cat was not prone to such things. How deep she had allowed that woman into her life without even realizing it. 

She thought about Supergirl, this intense stranger of a thing with all the extraordinary capabilities out of some kind of torrid sci-fi novel.  Except this one was very real, and somehow entangled in what felt like Cat’s very own DNA without any explanation as to how or why.

Her eyes scoured the ceiling, running through yesterday's events further, from when she had finally gotten home, she shouldn’t have been so surprised to see Alexandra in her living room playing away with Carter on the floor.  Or how quickly she and Kara had vacated again the moment her still residing company came back from her little exploratory outing of National City before Cat could introduce them all to one another.

Since then she hadn’t heard from either Kara or Supergirl.  Not that she expected to with one of them at the very least, and of course who was to say it was either woman’s requirement to call her.  She was capable of picking up a phone and, as absurdly amusing as it might seem, send a call up to the skies and wait.

With another sound of annoyed irritation she hurled the covers back up over her head, letting out another muffled outburst within them until she heard the gentle knock on her door.

“Aunt Kitty?” Lena’s voice was gentle, unsure if she was interrupting things again which seemed to be her constant state from the moment she had arrived.

Cat let out another heavy sigh, punching at the air in a moment of undignified frustration before she heard the quiet babble of her son and Evangelena’s softer voice answering him back. It was amusing to hear the faintest nuance of what her time abroad had done to the girl’s accent.  Girl, Cat huffed, Evangelena was anything but a quiet little quirk of a seven year old girl she had remembered. Whomever her actual mother was a part of Cat swore she needed to find them and thank her genetics personally.

There were trace amounts of Lionel Luthor in her, but the rest, the shock of black hair, chiseled features as if they had been cut from marble and most of all the glaciers that were the blue of her eyes all formulated together into this beautiful young woman distinguished rather magnanimously from the stockier, Amazonian like traits of her own family line. Ironically, were it not for her hair and paler complexion, she actually took after Cat in overall build. 

Of course, knowing Lillian as Cat did, she guessed this also made Lex’s half sister that much more of an outcast among their privileged selves. With a bit of a sneer, it reminded her instantly of her sister's nickname for her; runt.

“I’m awake.” Cat announced, hearing Carter babble on the other end and an elated little gasp from his carrier for his benefit.  

The door opened and she could hear her niece question Carter as to where his mother was, the ruse alone pulling at the corners of her mouth and fueling her next actions.  With a gasp, to ensure Evangelena wasn’t leaning over her or had time to move if she was, Cat erupted from the covers in a flourish, hearing the other two gasp and giggle respectively before Carter was barreling towards her as if Lena had read her mind.

Cat mimicked some kind of dinosaur noise, claws made for tickling grappling the little boy as he bounced on her bed on his back, her fingers mercilessly poking into his trigger spots and sending squeals and raucous laughter into the air as he tried to get away.

Lena stepped back after her delivery, watching mother and son with a quiet melancholy despite her smile to the contrary.

Breathless on the back of giggles, his little body involuntarily squirming here and there Cat was poised over him on hands and knees, the untamed length of her hair acting like a curtain and concealing the two of them from the world for one precious moment.

Carter studied her openly, his laughter remaining within his smile as he reached up, pulling her closer before he thrust his head forward without consideration as most toddlers are apt to, gently bonking their foreheads together with a wince on Cat’s behalf.  Cat drew in a deep breath, feeling his hands wrap around her neck over her hair, keeping them connected as he spoke in gibberish.

She fit her hands under his body, making sure to cradle his head as she sat them both up while keeping them connected only to feel her entire body freeze when she heard it.

“-Mayararwa Momma.”

“He’s rather intense for a three year old.”

Evagelena’s voice pulled Cat’s immediate focus and halted any attempt to ask Carter what he had said again.  She bounced Carter to her hip, edging to the end of the bed as her son whispered at her again while looking at Lena pointedly.

“You have no idea.” Cat remarked, seeing the other woman try to hide her saddened expression behind a full smile.

“Carter baby, do you think," she pulled him around, setting him on her legs. “Evangelena here has a proper name in this house?”

Carter hmm’d with an intense furrow of his brow no doubt learned from his mother even if he didn’t understand what he was doing by mimicking her, while Cat realized she needed to work on that expression herself.  He twisted impossibly, staring at Lena upside-down while his mother held onto him.

“Yis momma. Gotsa go find it.”

Cat grinned, Lena stood confused while Carter pushed back and slid down to the floor, his little feet already pounding on the carpet down to his playroom at the end of the hall leaving the two women alone a moment.   His mother stood, watching him go and also putting her in line with her niece who attempted to peer around the door frame with little success for a clue only to feel her whole body go off balance.

Lena blinked and was ramrod straight for the longest time, the body of her aunt wrapped around her rather uncharacteristically.  At least as far as she could recount from any interview she read about her or recall of her mother’s own generalization about ‘the rest of the family’ on their yearly phone call. Cat was detached and self-serving, off in her own world without any consideration for others, especially her family.

This was supposed to be some frigid uptown bitch-kin to her mother and grandmother, despite how defiant Lena had vaguely remembered her being when she was little.  The hushed whispers and the talk of scandal and salacious things she didn’t understand when she was an age denoting a single digit.

“Evangelena.” Cat warned gently, pulling her mind back to the present and the genuine warmth she felt in those arms, the full contact of the other woman melting into her like a kind of salve she didn’t know she was in need of.  She responded dumbly, arms wrapping around her aunt, feeling her grip tighten that much more until Lena realized she was on the verge of crying.  

“I’m so sorry.” Cat apologized, each word hammering at Lena’s heart like a wrecking ball.  

“For?” Lena husked, not trusting herself to move yet as she felt Cat’s fingers run through her hair in soothing touches.

“Not being stronger. I have done so many things wrong. Let other people determine my behavior, my actions instead of standing up to them for myself.” 

Cat wasn’t sure why the confession now in this moment, beyond that same vein of change and affirmation Kara had instilled in her.  That there was never a too late, not when you or those wronged we're still alive, just like with Adam and even Lois.

Her mind was flooded with the explosive argument she had slapped the life out of her sister for when Lillian had suddenly sent the seven year old Evangelena away without any warning or family to navigate the world an ocean away.

Cat had always suspected it was the prospect of Lillian adopting Adam for her own that had served as a kind of catalyst to rid her sister of Lex’s only biological sibling.

Now, with Lena here, in her arms, all grown up, did those feelings of partial responsibility seize her. How hypocritical she had resigned herself to being. Cat had kept tabs on her like she had Adam, hiding away behind money and position but never taking any fully active stance out of what she understood now as fear.

Fear of rejection, retaliation, responsibility. Most of all fear of love, the unconditional kind that came so freely from children including her son now, while being so rare coming from adults. Along with her fear that she could never be deserving of it. 

Not since her father had died. 

How with his passing, the total loss of that kind of love in her life had planted that seed of fear. A fear that her sister and mother had sowed in droves equally over time.

A fear that stared her down now with the truth of how much she had failed the young woman in her arms just like her other son by not intervening more.

“And for those who couldn’t.” She rasped, filled to the brim with her own emotions.

Lena clung to her aunt then, feeling a band across her chest break, sending shockwaves through them both.. The younger woman practically crushed her aunt, thanking all the stars and heavens she had reached out to her against all arguments to the contrary a few months back. 

Cat held her just as tight, whispering reassurances and almost motherly affections towards her until the two of them were thrown off balance by a fiercely hugging three year old. 

Cat drew back first, holding Lena’s head in her hands, one thumb running over the the nap of suede along her scalp on one side that was otherwise hidden by the woman’s copious amounts of hair.

Lena sniffled gently, offering a broken smile, reaching up to wipe at her eyes while her aunt let her own tears remain in plain sight with an unspoken kind of knowing to Cat’s questioning look.

“Your mother’s going to love this.” Cat teased affectionately, rubbing her fingers over the shaven expanse before her hand fell away to ruffle Carter’s hair.

“Momma’s kay?”

Cat nodded to him with a hybrid of a laugh and a sigh of relief before he swung his own pale blues at Lena.

“Lenateryx kay?”

Lena furrowed her brow, unable to step back further what with his hands still clinging to her and her aunt’s calves.  She tipped her head at him curiously, glancing to Cat for help who merely shook her head behind a smile before Lena turned her attention back to Carter.

“If that’s me, then yes I’m okay" she sniffled, wiping her face clean.

Carter nodded firmly, as if all the answers to the universe were just had.  He moved his hand from around his mother’s leg, offering Lena the dinosaur in his grasp.  

“Caudipteryx” He said with absolution as Lena bent down to his level before taking the offered toy.  It was a small bird-like dinosaur, with little wing tufts near its hands and a spread of feathers like a fan at the end of its tail that reminded her of a peacock.

Cat watched the pair for a moment before tipping her head, catching a reflection of red along the silver frame beside her bed before turning to look out the window and finding nothing there.

“Thas you.” He nodded a few times watching her examine the bird-like reptile extensively before offering it back to him.

“Me huh, I like it.”

Carter grinned at her, taking the toy with a thank you and blowing a kiss up to them, letting them both go completely and running off and back out of the room again.

As Lena stood she made more space between herself and her aunt, running a hand through her hair, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a puffy cheeked rush.

“You know mother doesn’t even know I’m here, or that I graduated early.”

Supergirl hovered just off the balcony of Cat’s apartment, aside from calling as Kara she thought she might surprise the other woman and return the favor of breakfast from the week prior and maybe in the process work out a way to tell Cat who she was.  

Until she was faced with the scene laid out in front of her.  

Cat’s bed was a mess of a thing,as was its owner, hair mussed, still in the crumpled silk of her pajamas despite the hour and wrapped fiercely around her was the woman from the other night, Evangeline or some such. All dark hair, bare legs and crumpled socks midway down her calves and a heavy tunic of a thing, just as mussed as her counterpart and instantly reminding Supergirl of Lois, only younger.  She saw Carter rush in shortly thereafter, slamming into both of them like he was coming home.

She continued to invade the moment with her voyeuristic presence, barely hearing the world around her through the thunder of blood in her ears.  Then there was the small dinosaur in his hand, and as the woman bent down to the boy Supergirl felt the Earth’s gravity for the first time as if she were back on Krypton.

It was Cat’s movement that snapped her back into herself, realizing she had fallen from her original place in the air to nearly past the balcony edge.  She saw the curve of Cat’s shoulder, knowing instinctively she was turning to look out the windows and the heroine made sure when she did nothing but air was staring back at her.

She let gravity carry her downward before twisting sharply and cutting up between a taller set of buildings before soaring completely into the sky and out of sight.


	30. Jealousy Wears a Cape of Humanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astra asks another unexpected favor of Alex while Kara takes her frustrations out on Wonder Woman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention... angst? 
> 
> Musical Choices this interlude:  
> [Secession Studios - Unbreakable, Paul Elhart - The Sky Is Your Limit, Andy Leech - Distant, Atis Freivalds - Above The Light, Nicolai Patricio - Somewhere But Not Here, Paul Elhart - Wanderer and more ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlDdaZMQejY)

Alex flopped onto the couch of the apartment with an excessive groan of exhaustion, working sixteen-hour shifts on a few hours sleep was ridiculous. She let her head thump back into the crux of the couch, arms splayed out like a throne and body slowly opening up as she relaxed into the cushions staring at the ceiling.

She half-heartedly listened for sounds of life within the apartment and upon finding none let out another dejected kind of sigh. The week was one thing, or so she thought, although she supposed with a secret government agency there really was no such thing as a standard weekday or a weekend to look forward to. Not in a conventional manner anyway. Then again the same could be said for her own endeavors right now, in reality, a hospital really wasn’t any different.

Alex pulled in an even deeper breath then, forcing her lungs to capacity until she felt the muscles around them twitch, urging her body to relax even further as she felt her eyes grow heavy. No sooner did she feel as if she were about to drift into oblivion did she sense the faintest shift in air temperature into a warmer spectrum before opening her eyes.

She felt her heart stop with the sight that greeted her, angular features and dark hair complete with that streak of lightning. She swallowed visibly, watching the stormy blue of the General’s gaze darken to a greener shade while wondering absently if that was another Kryptonian ability and why Kara had never changed her eye color before.

“ _This is becoming a habit Brave One._ ” Astra suggested no louder than a whisper before straightening away and rounding the edge of the couch before actually sitting down on the opposite side of Alex. “ _I feel the need to say it is not intentional I promise you._ ”

Alex shook her head ever so, blinking away the haze of sleep after a minute despite the urge to just invert her position and sprawl out on the couch and use one of Astra’s thighs as a pillow.

Astra observed her curiously, watching the woman seem to consider something before she was in motion. In the span of a few seconds, Alex was out of her heavy dead animal hide jacket, its little metal armaments clattering against buckles as it was left behind. Stronger hands than Astra anticipated palmed at her leg just above the knee followed by bare arms that hugged her limb into place as Alex spread out on her stomach, pushing off her boots with a residual thud before hooking her feet across the opposite arm.

A part of Alex was trying to scream at her, to knock her in the head and make her realize what she was doing, but honestly, she was too tired and too deprived of human interconnectivity to the level she had gotten used to when it was just her, Winn, Kara and Astra to care. Instead, she nuzzled down until she was comfortable, arms flexing as she felt Astra move to adjust to her own comfortable position.

“Who're you again?” Alex pushed out, having lost her filter for considerate conversation hours ago.

Astra looked confused, her hand hovering as if to touch the other woman but she ceased to move with the question suddenly worried the human had sustained some kind of damage. “ _Astra In-Ze from-”_

“I was being facetio- I was joking” Alex sighed, keeping thoughts to herself and forcing her underlying abandonment issues below the level of her exhaustion. “What is it that you need?”

Astra felt a twinge of guilt, watching Alex's aura shift not only because of her tired nature, but the emotions fighting to surface from beneath. She curled her fingers into her palm, trying to talk herself out of the desire to touch the other woman, only to sink her fingers into the depths of her hair and graze her nails across Alex's scalp. The groan that erupted from the other woman forced a sharp intake of breath on the Kryptonian’s behalf and all movement ceased.

“Don’t stop, “ Alex whined, digging her cheek into the muscle of Astra’s thigh, a new thought swirling in her sleep addled brain. “You didn’t hurt me, it felt good.”

Astra let the tension in her hand relax after another moment, fingers swirling around and carefully kneading the stress she felt in the depth of Alex’s hair.

“ _I… I need to ask you something.”_

Alex grumbled then, her body never stopped shifting as she tried to find that perfectly comfortable spot. With a clear expression of confusion from the other woman, she pushed up on her hands bringing her and Astra nearly eye level.

“There’s probably a better way to put all this… but I’m honestly too tired to care right now.”

Astra tipped her head curiously at the other woman watching her fight to stay awake.

“Ask directly what you need from me, then move so I can lay out on the couch and go to sleep unless you need it right this minute.”

“ _I can ask another time.”_

With Astra’s shift in expression, Alex swore internally at herself and let out a sigh before pushing back so that she was on her knees and sitting on her heels.

“Sorry, I.. I’m just tired and, and that’s probably the only reason I’m going to say this.” Alex drew a deep breath, watching Astra turn enough on the couch to face her. “Everybody left, or they’ve been so busy it’s suddenly just me here, alone. Which, is fine, rationally I know this, it’s important for all of us. And now when I’m exhausted, cause I’ve thrown myself into school and work so that maybe I can help the rest of you out too, you show up and need something.”

Astra watched Alex stumble through her explanation, the way her fatigue wrote itself on her features between the lines of self-doubt and usefulness and feeling her chest tighten.

“I’m not trying to be rude, a little selfish sure, and I love that suddenly you need me,” her tone took on a sarcastic lilt and she took a breath to stifle it. “But you’ll have to forgive me a minute here if I seem a little out of sorts about this whole thing.” Of course, there was plenty more beyond her being tired and feeling like she had been left behind fueling that statement but she shoved those thoughts even further aside.

“ _It was never the intention to make you feel this way._ ” Astra allowed after a long moment, eyes running over Alex’s features intently only to reach up and tentatively set her fingertips across the side of the other woman’s face. “ _But I am glad you have said something about it._ ”

Alex closed her eyes at the contact, feeling her jaw flex tightly as she swallowed the bite of the words threatening to rise out of her down audibly.

“Just ask me what you need Astra.” The Kryptonian swept her thumb across the curve of Alex’s cheekbone, hand cupping her jaw as fingers pressed into the cord of muscle along her neck.

“ _Come here_ ,” she whispered, waiting for Alex to follow the gentle pressure of her fingers. When she did the pair of them moved in tandem. Astra turned further into the couch, drawing her leg up before stretching it out over the back cushions. As her body slid down Alex’s moved up, fitting between Astra’s legs as her arms wrapped underneath the taller woman’s torso until her cheek was pressed into the flat of Astra’s chest. Astra pushed the both of them up, sliding further down until they were both comfortable once she settled again.

Alex tried to remember how to breathe slowly, fingers slotted between the channels of Astra’s ribs as she listened to her heartbeat, swearing she could almost hear a second fainter one beating away and surmised it was her own. Astra relaxed her head against the arm of the couch, watching over the woman in her grasp as she hooked her legs around Alex’s own, fingers filtering through Alex’s hair down her back while the other fanned out across the dip in her spine above her waist.

“ _I want you to teach me how to dance_.” She whispered finally, feeling Alex tense along the plain of her chest before she nuzzled back down.

“Why?” Alex murmured, closing her eyes as she focused on the other woman’s beating heart.

“ _For this event, I have been tasked with attending._ ” Astra cautioned, waiting for another round of arguments and explanations. Instead, Alex nodded against her, finally allowing her body to relax into the Kryptonian fully.

“Okay…” Alex’s voice was far off and Astra was sure she wasn’t even aware she had answered. She brushed the hair from around Alex’s face, drawing the fullness of it from her neck and smoothing it over her opposite shoulder before leaning forward just enough to steal a kiss near her temple before settling back and closing her own eyes. She knew she wouldn’t sleep, but she would relax, allow herself these few moments of restitution away from the D.E.O., from her memories, obligations and personal demons while remaining the ever vigilant sentinel.

 

**\-------**

 

Kara stood in a makeshift gym set outside what appeared to be containment cells just off the main floor and down a flight and a half of stairs enclosed in thick concrete. She looked around the makeshift facility, seeing the nuances provided by her Aunt and Hank and others she didn’t recognize but were she to guess belonged to the person in the room with her. She flexed her shoulders, stretching the muscles as she turned her mind back to the immediacy of now instead of the path that had gotten her here, and the towering amazon of a woman with the jet black hair and the fierce blue eyes opposite her.

The two women sized one another up carefully as Diana slowly encroached upon Kara’s personal space. The Amazon moved sharply, her strike at Kara’s side deflected, the pair exchanged swipes and the barest of touches to gain an upper hand until they were locked around one another’s fists. Kara had lasted a few seconds before her arms began to shake and Diana merely offered a small smile before gradually forcing Kara’s hands back to her sides once her strength caved. A half second later she was wrapping the Kryptonian up in a fierce hug that made Kara’s ribs ache.

“You’re fighting angry.” Diana’s voice was against her temple, still holding her down despite the last second thrash Kara tried to throw at her. While she didn’t seek to actually hurt Kara, she was plenty capable of the action, without remorse in most instances. Although with her over rotations and excessive emphasis in her follow throughs, Diana was worried Kara was more likely to hurt herself just on accident than she could on purpose right now.

For a split second, they were airborne, and Diana let go to fall in a crouch on the ground only to roll out of the way as Kara tried to slam into her, her fist leaving a dent in the ground.

“I know you have been incorporating various styles to suit you, anger should not be one of them.” Diana offered without hardly seeming winded as she found herself on the defensive, dodging and countering Kara’s advance. The pair had made it around the space at least twice, up and over all manner of obstacles littered throughout the room that Astra had insisted on altering any time they met here. No battleground would ever be the same as the one before it. Even in the skies and Kara needed to understand that to maintain an advantage.

Or so her Aunt kept telling her.

“You've all told me to make them my own.” Kara spun around, her foot caught by the other woman as easily as a child with a ball, so she used the other and her flight ability to land another blow that sent Diana back and away before she spun out of the motion and landed. They were both far more disheveled than they had started, sweaty and marked by their environment from dirt and grit, clothes torn here and there or overstretched where a grab or hold had been utilized.

“I did not tell you to get cocky, arrogance is what has gotten plenty of people in far worse trouble.” Diana was on her in an instant, Kara’s advance lost as the other woman increased not only the speed of her attack but the focus, intent, and strength of each hit she tried to land. “Having power and knowing how to use it aren’t the same thing, you especially should know this.”

Around they went once more, incorporating various environmental weapons and objects of opportunity to try and bring the other down and gain the upper hand until they were both disarmed.

“Combat has no place for your ire, it blinds you, twists your intentions.” With each word she landed a blow to the Kryptonian, forcing her back until Diana kicked her squarely in the chest and knocked her across the room into the wall. “Wears you down and when it runs out you have nothing left.”

Kara remained on her knees, fist pressed into the ground as she fought for air. Diana was right, she was angry, frustrated was a better term and when she focused on the origin she realized it was wrought from jealousy she didn’t want to admit she was carrying with her. She focused on that emotion, and everything swirling around it, drawing in the first full breath since they had started.

Already Diana was moving, the scrape of her boots on the floor was enough of a warning that Kara tilted her head towards. One thing Astra had taught her was to never stop, never assume the other person has chosen restraint. A seasoned soldier could lose a fight to a civilian in an instant. Certainly not because of an inability towards skill but a conditioning to reservation.

Fighting was not about winning, about being right or wrong, anger or sadness, it was about ferocity. The will to fight when a rational person wouldn't, the ability to flip on the brain's fight-or-flight instinct and act without hesitation. Being Supergirl, engaging with any enemy while that mantle surrounded her was a trial of survival, if not for her life then for what she stood for, for the people she was defending, for the world as it needed her.

Kara pulled in another deep breath, feeling the rush of air preceding Diana’s kick and with her superspeed, pushed off the ground from her prone position, sending the amazon’s leg beneath her and up. She pivoted then, pushing forward and grabbing the underside of Diana’s leg as the inertia of her kick followed through without impact.

Diana was on her back with a thud, and as she opened her eyes Kara was already descending on her, fist poised to strike. She bent up then, bracing herself for the impact as the punch connected with her skull. Diana swung her legs in a wide fan, knocking Kara down to her knee as she righted herself and pushed forward despite the world of the other woman's posture.

Kara deflected more blows than she took, pushing past that jealousy, spiraling into the depth of her mind, her force increasing, her deflections landing every time as she brushed against something buried down into the darkest hidden parts of herself.

In an instant, they were locked again in a similar position from their start, only this time when Diana applied her brute strength to wear Kara’s hold down, turning them about slowly in their grapple Kara didn’t bend. Kara didn’t shake like before, in fact, she faltered in the grip but only minimally and instead of remaining locked in the grasp she redoubled her efforts and when Diana tried to bring a knee up into Kara’s abdomen, she caught the movement and tightened her muscles there into a wall for that knee to crack upon like concrete.

It made them both stumble and utilizing her super speed and flight again, Kara dropped her weight with the motion, throwing Diana over her while she back flipped and twisted in place, landing sure-footed on all fours and already enguard for the other woman’s advance. Diana caught herself off balance and turned, as Kara plowed into her forcing them into a wall as mortar crumbled around them.

As soon as Diana saw the flare in the other woman’s eyes she let go and dropped moving out if the way in a flourish of movement while the wall glowed white before fading as Kara slumped to the floor.

“That, whatever that was, is your strength. It will hold with you until the end and beyond it, just be careful not to follow after it.”

Kara sat back on her heels, breathing heavy and pushing the memories of her planet's destruction away. She startled when Diana tossed her a bottle before sliding down the wall to sit opposite the other woman.

“Do you feel capable of discussing this little endeavor?” Diana cautioned, having been struck dumb when Kara had arrived out of nowhere and demanded they meet in the training room.

Kara took a hefty sip of her water before collapsing back on the floor with a grunt. “My humanity got in the way of my rationality.”

“Happens to the best of us.” Diana chuckled gently, setting a hand on Kara's shin. “I much prefer your level of humanity to that of your Aunt's.”

Kara scoffed with amusement. “She hides it better than anyone I know.” Kara sat up on her elbows then, studying the other woman. “Are you seeing anyone?”

Diana rose a brow, the corner or her mouth lifting as she took another drink for herself before resting her head back against the wall. “Yes.”

“Do they know who you are, really?”

“No.” The abruptness of the answer caught Kara by surprise as she sat up further, dragging a leg back towards herself.

“But the publicity of my endeavors as an Amazon are few and far between in contrast to your own. The only other human who knew who I was, died.  Sacrificing themselves so that I might save the world. It is that 'one for the many' argument I am sure you are aware of.”

Kara studied the other woman tentatively, seeing the flicker of regret in her words despite the rather casual tone she spoke them with.

“When was-”

“World War One,” Diana said without missing a beat, driving another factor home for Kara that she tried not to consider given what she was by relation to the planet she was on. “His sacrifice was so well received the world had to go and fight another war with itself.”

Kara inclined her head then regarding the warrior woman. “Don’t fight in anger,” Kara warned, causing ice blue eyes to lift and almost burn through to her soul before the faintest breath of a laugh moved Diana.

“Smartass.”

Kara grinned, taking another sip of water, thankful for the ease in that tension however momentary. 

“May I ask why?”

“Why what?

“Get involved again after so long.”

Diana let out a dark exhale then, pulling her head from the wall as she pulled her knees up to rest her arms on.

“Sacrifice is a part of everyone, it is a thing we cannot control in others. I never wanted to be faced with that again, the actions of someone I loved to make that choice just because I was a part of their lives. Wondering if perhaps they had not met me, they would be alive.” Diana looked over at Kara pointedly then, gaze never leaving her eyes. “Then I had to understand, by thinking that way, believing that as the answer, devalued those people. Took a choice away from them that should never be mine to take.” She took another sip of water, wondering where her wisdom had come from. 

“Hiding away, turning your back on something does not make it any easier to comprehend. It just makes us lonely and cynical. What I had to learn, was what exactly I was hiding from, not fear, but love.”

Kara’s brow furrowed and Diana leaned her head back into the wall once more, eyes still focused on the younger woman. “Love is an action, not just a feeling, we reach for it when we are confronted with the darkest parts of ourselves. Sometimes the universe has an interesting method for making us realize that, especially in the absence of such things. Contentment is not fulfillment, when I had assumed I was fulfilled upon returning to the world of man was when the Gods saw fit to place someone else in my life.”

“Just to hide away?”

Diana let out another exhale, fingers twitching off her knees. “That is complicated, but we are not here to talk about me and my fears. You started this because of someone that has entered your life and upset your balance didn’t you.”

Kara chewed on her lips a moment wanting to pursue her questions for Diana only to determine that the woman was most likely a tighter trap with personal information when pushed on the subject. Her statement was clue enough for Kara not to pursue her previous line of questioning and answer some of Diana’s own.

“I feel, jealous and confused. This person is not very open, or expressive with their feelings verbally, not without reason mind you, and there is -so- much to think about when one kind of steps outside of everything and looks at it all from the outside.”

“What happened?”

“Another someone showed up.”

Diana raised her eyebrows, tipping her head to the side as she waited for Kara to continue.

“If you are so certain of your feelings, and aware of the other person’s, why is this new individual an issue?”

“I could see it.”

“See what Kara, I do not read minds like J’onn.”

Kara huffed out a sigh, suddenly feeling stupid, her initial basis for feeling jealous going out the window in an instant the more Diana's previous statement about her own past love sank into her consciousness. “This, effortless affection, a connection they had with one another, a bond on a distinctive kind of level. It was similar to when I met this person’s ex-wife but that just existed from their history, and like you said, one of them not being afraid of love by acknowledging its boundaries, its change to a new set of conditions without compromising its depth.”

“But?”

Kara looked up then, pulling in a deep breath. “I’m not jealous, not... Not like that. Maybe a little, but, I will never be that person, to anyone. This portion to someone else’s life that secures them in the idea that the world is right, that it’s better, just because we’re in it together navigating the same thing. Not because I’m this … this...” Kara gestured to herself, unable to find the right words to convey what she was trying to.

“I don’t…”

“What I saw this morning, that’s normal. Those ordinary domestic moments. The sheer possibility of waking up to someone every morning and knowing all those little things people here are told or read about or whatever are real, not fantasies or figments…” Kara shook her head.

“I’m frustrated because I want to be that, that normal, ordinary person who sees the extraordinary in someone else and is made better by it.  I was that, before everything, that person, just Kara, and that was who Cat gravitated towards. I know that's the reason I haven't told her who I am because the second I do everything is going to change."  Kara didn't even realize her own slip, barreling onward despite Diana's straighter posture upon hearing the name and knowing exactly which Cat the other woman was referring to.

"But now, after everything I can't just be Kara, I know it, not because I'm not capable, not because Cat's attracted to Supergirl too which is its own set of problems but because seeing that today it, it made me realize I would step away for her.  From her son, her life, all of it. Willingly." Kara searched the air in front of herself, feeling the weight of her words as she forced them out of the swirl of her thoughts and into the air like a confession of the soul. 

"To let her have that, that normal without questioning every day or worrying what next or constantly being endangered because of me. I'm frustrated and jealous because I want her to have those innate human things that only another human can give her. Things I was more than able to give her in more ways than I am now before that stupid explosion. I'm angry, not at that other person, who is probably very nice and uncomplicated, but at myself, because I've lied to her,. I've made her believe in this alien side of myself as someone completely different and maybe even worth considering over Kara Danvers me. I was so stupid with that interview."  Kara swallowed thickly, her emotions clamping around her throat the more she continued. "I'm angry and jealous because, between the two, she chose the ordinary human me when that Superhero me was right there in front of her." 

Diana listened intently, careful not to make any motion or sound as the other woman vented, idly wondering if it was a fatal flaw of those beyond the concept of human. That idea of 'they would all be better off without me' that seemed to run so rampant within them all.  That or the alternative idea that she could see crawling into Kara's awareness. Kara rubbed at her face with a growl, feeling the heat in her eyes and the tears threatening to pool there as she swore to Rao in her native tongue. 

"There is no value of normal with me anymore and I'm upset over all of it because I love her.”

The admission aloud shut Kara up instantly and forced Diana to sit upright completely, watching the reality of those sentiments wreck havoc on the Kryptonian and reflect her own fears about telling Lois who she really was surface.  She knew that feeling, intimately, the want, the willingness to give up the extraordinary for that conception of human normalcy. The gravity of knowing that should the opportunity arise to become nothing more than human, ones such as they might not be capable of saying no. Especially if the person you're willing to sacrifice all that for is the one asking.  It was something she herself had been thankful Steve had never asked her, but she also knew that he never would have.

 _That_  was the extraordinary thing about humans.

“Listen to me, Last Daughter of Krypton. It took me more time than I care to admit to realize that some people, those rare few, no matter how human they are by comparison, are not normal. Never will be, never can be, it is not within their nature. In a way, I've tried to rationalize that the Gods made them just for us, not just lovers but family and friends.” Diana folded her legs beneath herself, sitting close enough to touch the other woman as she reached up and took her face in her hands. “Kara is who you are, Supergirl is what you are capable of. You can never just be -that- person because you were never meant to be, maybe not even on your own world. There are extraordinary things in you, just as there are extraordinary things in humans, especially those who we unwittingly value above all else, otherwise, they would not stand out beyond all others. Do not forget that.”


	31. Lilly's and Kitty's Are Poisonous to Each Other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara finally meets Cat's new guest, Astra and Eliza discover just how far they're willing to go to protect Kara and Cat has a family reunion that further compromises her relationship with Supergirl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention some angst....? Conflict is not a bad word it merely allows for conflict resolution ;)

Monday morning arrived quicker than Kara wanted to admit, there had been a few trysts into the city after her time with Diana as Supergirl, a robbery here, a few wayward rescues there and she couldn’t be less interested in the coverage of it all as it permeated the morning news outlets while she had been getting ready.

As she stood outside, there was an anxiousness that grappled her insides, twisting them around and while not entirely unpleasant, there was a reality to them and their roots with her confessions to the amazon day before last she hadn’t felt with such vigor prior to now.

The nose of the sedan appeared sooner than she had expected as did the hitch in her breath as it came to a stop in front of her.  Just as unexpectedly the back door opened for her, causing her heart to beat faster until she saw the woman scooting aside from it.

“Kara right?”  Lena’s voice was odd to place, just as much as her presence in the back of that car was.  

“Mamasaur!” “Morning Kara!”Carter shouted with enthusiasm for the hour while Adelaide’s own boisterous greeting startled her just as much.

“Karasaur…” She correctly absently, watching Lena maneuver herself around the car seat set in the middle of the back seat and give Kara the space closest to her. “Uh.. yes sorry hi.”  

“Aunt Kitty said I’d like you. As did this little gentleman here along with the lovely lady who has become a defacto tour guide this morning for me. ”

The moniker could have slapped the Kryptonian to the ground, and instead, she just stood there dumbly.  

“Get inside before we lose all the heat.”

With a slight misstep, Kara nearly fell into the car, pulling the door closed with her as Lena alleviated her of the cup holder full of coffee cups but left the box of breakfast pastries.

“Sorry, I must be half asleep still.”

Lena grinned, full and bright, the arterial red of her lips making her teeth stand out all the more before looking at the cups. “Alright, they told me about this, one is yours, another Austin’s and one Aunt Kitty’s.”

“The two closest to you, Austin’s and mine from left to right. Sorry I didn’t know there would be more otherwise-”

“Oh no it’s alright, I had plenty already back at the house.”

Kara turned towards the woman as she was handed her cup, giving an absent thank you on autopilot before offering a hand out to her.

“Does Aunt Kitty’s niece have a name?” Kara tested the nickname and was amazed at how she kept the laugh that threatened to bubble up in check.

“Goodness, honestly I’m horrible at first impressions.” She eased the cup holder to the floor, securing Cat’s coffee in the door where the built-in holder was and freeing up her hands so that she might shake Kara’s. “Evangelena.” She mocked her own name with a flare of an Irish cadence before chuckling. “But I much prefer Lena.”

“Lena it is then, I, I should apologize, we ran into each other the other night and the following afternoon and I-”

“Oh stop.” Lena took her hand back, giving an exaggerated thank you to Carter when he handed her one of his dinosaurs to hold. “Especially with the way I barged in on everything that first night is my own fault for not realizing my Aunt is not actually a frigid lonely witch in a tower.”

Kara looked bewildered, wondering where that descriptor had come from.

“Blame that one on my mother,” she answered while continuing. “And on Friday, listen it was the end of your day, Aunt Kitty said that other woman was your sister so I just wrote it off as you two having plans knowing we’d eventually run into one another.”

Kara wanted to laugh, she wanted to hug the other woman and she wanted to slap herself silly all at the same time.  Austin must’ve recognized the expression as he choked on a sip of his coffee which only pulled Lena’s attention to the whole of the situation, leaving her expression to fall.

“I…’m dominating the conversation aren’t I.”  Lena glanced from Kara to Austin and back again, her shoulders drooping slightly.

“No, no not at all-”

“I just I know I can get wrapped up in things and Aunt Kitty and Carter have talked about you all weekend and even this little gem in the front has gone on about you and I just wanted to make a good-”

“Lena stop.” Kara interrupted, setting a hand on her arm over Carter, who decided to add his own hand to the pile. “Breathe.”

Lena nodded, looking between Kara and Carter before putting her hand on top of their little pile, which was followed of course by Carter’s other hand before Kara gave a warm smile and put hers on top.

“I know I don’t know the details, but I have a feeling there’s a lot more to all this that you or Cat has told me.  Which she or you can at your discretion if you even want to, but it seems as if this whole situation is a bit overwhelming and kind of opposite from what you’ve been led to believe up to now.”

Lena let out a huff of a breath on the back of a laugh, her nervousness subsiding to a more tolerable level as she gave another broad smile.

“Since you’ve got breathing down, can I ask something?”

Lena nodded as all of their hands untangled after another few moments.  

“Are you staying with us the whole day or is Austin in charge of your well being?”

“Aunt Kitty wanted me to ride along, in case I saw anything or anywhere to go to while I’m here. But really,” her apprehension was back again. “I really just want to visit with my Aunt more, and I’m kind of unannounced sort of, so I thought maybe-”

“You could hide out with the cool kids?” Kara cautioned with a half smile.

“Is that okay?”  

It was Kara’s turn to grin. “Absolutely, I’ll sneak you into my office, these two wouldn’t dare let Cat know you were with us all day. Right?”  Her tone was one of playful exaggeration as if she had some surprise planned should the two comply with her and as a result, she got a resounding ‘right’ from the two and a laugh from Lena.

 

**\-------**

 

“ _E_ _nough_!” Astra’s voice was a booming thunder of a thing, sapping the last of her strength as she caught herself on her hands.  Her body was covered in sweat, hair plastered to her skin where it had fallen out of her ponytail as veins of green pulsed beneath the surface of her skin.

Instantly Eliza closed the jaded hunk of rock away in a leaden box and shutting it back into a kind of containment chamber before rushing over to the prone woman.

“We shouldn’t be doing this.” Eliza tried, kneeling down in front of the other woman in order to try and help her recover.

 _"You are the biologist, you wanted to know what this would do to Kara, as did I.”_ Astra allowed her body to collapse completely, turning over onto her back as she coughed and struggled for oxygen.

“Not if it’s going to kill you in the process.”

_“If it saves her then it-”_

“If you tell me that death is worth it I will punch you even without that stupid space rock right now.”  Eliza watched the monitors attached to Astra's body, she would verify their readouts later, before she looked back to Astra and the state she was in. “They're going to use this to kill her aren't they.”

Astra let out a slow exhale, feeling her strength returning with an agonizing slowness. “ _If they can not contain her, control her, like they tried with me, yes.”_

Eliza sat back her features set in such a way that reminded Astra of her own sister from when the truth about Krypton's fate was beyond sealed.

“ _They have a lot at their disposal. That sliver is nothing in comparison to the records Hank showed me, even if he is still managing to track down the rest wherever he can find it.”_

“This... is like a bioweapon.” Eliza's voice was one of profound regret and Astra didn't have to push the matter to understand the weight of those words.

“ _Sometimes, those of us seeking a better answer, inevitably give power to those who have no idea how not to destroy the world.”_ It was as close to a sympathetic apology as she could muster seeing her words hit home in the other woman.

“We have to counter this, a vaccine maybe, prolonged exposure in small doses, create a kind of immunity or-”

“ _You have as much a chance of that working as you do making me human.”_ Astra supplied, finally able to take a deep breath. “At least before the end of this week.”

Eliza sighed, hanging her head a bit with the truth of that statement. “Kara has always been, invincible, something like this…” she let her words die, the silence saying enough to both of them.

Astra reached over then, squeezing Eliza's hand firmly. “ _We will figure this out, and she will not be alone, I have faith in you and other humans here to do what they can, so long as you have it in those of us who are not.”_

Eliza squeezed back just as tight, allowing a small smile as Astra feigned pain and told her to take it easy.

 

**\-------**

 

Cat paced in her office while Karen relayed the running guest list for the coming event. They had to get the final total to the venue by two o’clock in order to set this whole monster of a thing in motion.  

The hotel needed to know the number in order to recruit additional staffing to cover, dinner settings, place food orders and prepare for the influx of people staying the weekend. Then they had to notify the promotional team in order to get out snippets, articles, and announcements of those attending. The printers already had a final draft for the step and repeat and various press outlets were vying for position on her arrival carpet.  

Even that had to be finalized, she had picked a gold carpet with red and blue accenting interview podiums for the more elite press outlets, including CatCo's own specialty spot dead center.  Arrangements needed to be approved and ordered, the production department alone was already running aimlessly with the decor and general motif already at the Seraphim and their management staff that Cat had outlined to be followed to the letter.

Countless meetings needed to be scheduled, not to mention the final layout of their first issue of CatCo Magazine to list half the requirements for the day leading into the weekend.   

“Katherine Grant, regretfully no” Karen spoke softly, having only ever met that witch once and was thankful she wasn't attending.

“Surprise surprise.” Cat drolled, her pacing continuing.

“Lillian Luthor,” Karen looked up at the break of Cat's office door as it was pushed aside.

“Is here.” The woman in question announced, her broad stature towering over both women, but especially her sister. “Hello, Kitty. Feels like forever.”

Cat straightened as much as her heels would allow, remaining aloof and outwardly unaffected, even if her sibling stood closer to six foot four given the patent leather shoes she had on.

“It's been maybe two months Lilly.” Cat settled on the edge of her desk, curling her hands on either side of herself around the lip there, appearing as calm and collected as possible before she waved Karen off.

“Yes well, some of us are working hard at changing the world, not playing around with a vanity project.” Lillian swept through, making straight for the bar and helping herself to a drink.

“Is that what they call it now? Funny that article I read the other day in the Planet-”

“Is nothing more than your ex trying to get back at me for ruining her office view, Kitty.  Lois was always so..” Lillian made a dismissive gesture letting the motion do the talking.  “Listen that’s not why I’m here and despite your lack of hospitality-”

“Oh yes, it’s _my_ failing not to make you feel welcome where I work Lilly.” Cat nodded with a sarcastic expression.

“If you ever bothered to visit Metropolis I would ensure you were most welcome Kitty,” The statuesque woman took a slow sip of her drink, looking down at her sister from where she stood across from her. “Especially where I work.”

“Oh my god…. What is she doing here?” Lena’s voice was a frightened whisper as she watched her mother turn from the bar and engage in conversation with her aunt.

Kara turned easily from where she was beside Carter, seeing Lena’s entire body edge closer to the panel of the wall between the windows before following her gaze. Carter was already down for a nap, while Adelaide was engaged in another book, complete with headphones.  She got up quietly, moving to the window in question and the individual prowling around Cat’s office.  With a tip of her head she determined that while the words between them were relatively harmless, the inflections within them were anything but.

“She who?” Kara said quietly, seeing Lena’s whole body tense up as she hid just out of view.

“My mother.”  Lena turned from the window, setting her back against the wall and taking in a deep breath.  “She doesn’t know I’m here, she doesn’t even know I’m in the country, I think.”  Kara looked back to the woman then to the pair across the way, watching Cat gesture towards her office only to step out of sight when she saw Lillian start to turn.

“Watch these two a minute ok?”

“What? Wait why? What’re you going to do?”

Kara gently took hold of Lena’s shoulders, pulling her focus from the panic starting to rise in her. “I’m going to go get us something to eat, and you’re going to stay right here, out of sight, Karen’ll make sure they don’t come in here ok?”

Lena nodded absently, she wasn’t ready to see her mother yet, she had wanted it to be a surprise, more of a shock really when she showed up at her Aunt Kitty’s plus one as a kind of fuck you gesture.

“Don’t look out the window, keep the door locked behind me, that way if they do head this way you’ll have time to come up with something.”

“What if-”

“Lena, it’s going to be ok, trust me.”

Lena nodded pulling in another settling breath before Kara let her go and moved over to Adelaide, whispering to the girl as she moved one headphone speaker from her ear.  The young girl looked to Lena then, offering a comforting smile before looking back at Kara and nodding.

Kara thanked her just as quietly before pushing to a stand. “She’ll help you if they try to come in.”  Lena nodded, chancing one more look towards her Aunt’s office before Kara stepped out, Adelaide moved just behind her, locking the door with a click.

“It’ll be okay, Kara’s really good at making people feel safe,” Adelaide spoke, her book forgotten, headphones around her neck as she moved over to Lena, climbing onto the couch and facing it backward.

“You like her a lot?”

Adelaide nodded emphatically before Lena slid to the floor, knowing it would be easier to keep the temptation of looking out the window at bay from there while still being capable of seeing the door and the two children with her.

“I think I do too”

Kara made her way to Karen’s desk, telling her that if Cat and only Cat should ask, to tell her that Alex was watching the children, but they were napping so no disruptions. Karen looked as confused as Kara expected her to be before she asked where Cat had wanted lunch from, stating that she was going to go pick it up as she needed to run a small errand out anyway.

She knew Cat saw her once she had stepped over to her assistant’s desk, could feel the woman’s eyes on her easily.  While she waited for the address, after a count of ten, Kara lifted her head to look at the other woman through her own office doors.  She saw the words Cat mouthed in her direction, feeling her chest swell slightly as a result of them before giving a single nod and turning away once she caught Lillian’s movement again.

“Honestly Kitty, I’m trying to talk to you and all you can do is ogle the mail girl. Some things never change.”

“She’s not the mail girl,” Cat responded, pulling her sister’s attention back to her with a slight pivot. “This is a place of business, not a luncheon hall where you talk down to the wait staff for not chilling the wine to thirty-six degrees.”

“And yet you insist on bringing your son here. Shouldn’t he be in school or something.”

“He’s three.”

“And Lex was enrolled by four and skipped a grade or two throughout his tenure.  Look at him now, twenty-four and thriving.”

Cat mm’d, the words about her nephew and his ease of education and fortune swallowed back down.

“At the very least let me see him, Kitty,” Lillian set her now empty glass on the edge of Cat’s desk, towering over the smaller woman. “I only barely got to see Adam when he was little, pity you chose Lois over the family for his upbringing, but we all have our vices I suppose.”

“Lillian,” Cat warned, watching her sister’s mouth quirk into a kind of knowing smile.

“I know, I know, wishful thinking. But to be fair, Kitty I only saw him from the image mother sent me right after he was born, you should have considered something less candid and a few days after for that photo op, although it might make me another fortune if I sold it to your competition.”

Cat let out an audible sigh, pushing off her desk and sending Lillian back a step. “If you’re in some kind of financial trouble Lillian, I would say go right ahead then. It would be the least I could do to help you out.”

“How charitable.” Lillian countered, setting her bag down on Cat’s sofa after pulling something out of it only to cross her arms over herself. “Listen, despite all the pleasantries we’ve exchanged here I do really want to see Carver.”

“Carter.”

“Sorry yes Carter, and besides,” She said, her tone shifting enough to put Cat on edge as she walked closer again. “I feel after the little olive branch of an apology you sent it’s only fair I return the gesture.”

“Apology?” Cat questioned, raising a brow as her sister held out her hand offering a small gray box.

“The invitation, for that event this weekend.  You haven’t invited me personally to anything in years. I always hear mother prattling on about these little events of yours she never finds the time for.”

Cat flexed her jaw, giving a short series of nods before plucking the box from her sister’s grasp, turning the heavy object over a moment before setting it on the flat of her desk without opening it.

“Now, with this little truce in place, may I please see my nephew?”

Cat eyed her sibling a moment, easing away from the line of her desk with the intent of at least letting Lillian look through the door of Kara’s office at the boy, only to have the wind rustle and billow the curtains of her balcony doorway inward.

Both women turned to the sudden interruption, seeing the long shadow cast across the floor and the undulation of what Cat already recognized as Supergirl’s cape. Her sister forgotten, Cat made her way to the balcony, the thankful expression for the hero’s presence clearly evident on her features even if Supergirl was the only one who could see it.

She stepped out on the terrace fully, until the heroine’s body blocked out the blinding glare of the sun, framing the woman in a corona of light that nearly took Cat’s breath away.  Gratitude dissolved into curiosity, she knew she hadn’t called the woman, nor were there any signs of something that would require the hero’s appearance.

Yet.

No sooner did she have the thought an odd twinge of apprehension sent ice across her spine and just as she was about to speak she felt a strong hand at her shoulder pulling her back forcefully. What neither sister counted on was the sudden approach of the heroine with the action, still hovering taller than Lillian, a few inches from Cat’s body.

“The illustrious Supergirl.” Lillian’s voice dripped with its own kind of curiosity, laced with poison, while her sister shrugged her hand off her shoulder and sent her a glare that could have melted steel.  “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”

Supergirl inclined her head imperceptibly, eyes narrowing while Lillian took her time, eyeing the alien in front of her, careful not to sneer while Cat stepped closer to the caped woman.

“I’ve seen you before.” Supergirl forewarned, the recollection hovering on the edge of her awareness, causing Cat to look between the two women worriedly, taking note of how her sister smiled with a full display of her teeth and lifted her chin.

“And I know I’ve seen you, you’re practically all anyone talks about anymore.” Lillian cut her eyes towards her sibling then back to the hero as she took a step closer, disregarding the shortest of the three of them. “Though I have to confess, given the most recent things I’ve read, I’m not sure I like the idea of you around my baby sister.”

“Lillian that’s enough,” Cat warned, stepping between the two women.

“Hush Kitty,” Lillian relayed her own warning, flicking her eyes up to the still hovering woman.

“You’re Lillian Luthor.” Supergirl husked, the last piece to the puzzle moved into place, causing Supergirl’s chest to cave in on itself as the reports and files, shoddy body cam footage and dossiers on Cadmus and its project lead that Hank had supplied her with slammed into perfect alignment like a bomb going off.  She had assumed Cat’s family shared her same name, any other name for that matter, than the one setting warning claxons off in her head.  “Cat’s sister…”

“I’m a lot of things, a doctor, a patriot, a mother, a sister-”

“A liar, a vivisector, a false protector.” Supergirl’s tone was vehement, forgetfully so, scathing with its accusations and clearly a threat as she felt Cat’s hand on her abdomen, keeping her at bay as she pitched forward. “For all your bravado right now, does Cat _know_ who her sister really is?”

“Don’t throw stones and hide your hands Supergirl.” Lillian snarled, looking down at Cat with the same element of revulsion at her defense of the alien. “You want to talk about bravado? Nice mask, afraid of something?  The better question is, does my sister know who  _you_ really are?

“Lillian back off, right now.” Cat’s voice held no capacity for dispute as she pressed into her sister until the taller woman moved back. “You’re in my building, in my city-”

“And just what are you to my sister anyway?” Lillian snapped out, ignoring her sibling for her own good, convinced she must be enthralled by this alien creature.

“I’m a friend.” Supergirl bit back, fists curling at her sides.

“I’ve heard that before,” Lillian muttered dismissively. “Only this time it’s not coming from some pathetic human.”

“ENOUGH!”  Cat roared, causing Lillian to blink and look down at the woman with a new kind of appreciation before stepping aside and walking across the balcony.  Supergirl responded almost as if she had been sucker punched, drifting back a few inches and out from under Cat’s touch.

“I’m sorry, Cat.”

The hero’s defeatist plea made Lillian turn her head enough to observe the two of them over her shoulder, questioning if it wasn’t Supergirl that was enthralled.  

“Just..go,” Cat whispered, her back kept to her sister as she stretched her hand over the sigil across the other woman’s chest. “Please.”

Supergirl swallowed hard, giving a small nod before rearing her eyes towards Lillian, only to see Lena peeking over the lip of the window to the office she was in just beyond her, forcing another disease of reality to strike her. Lillian was the girl’s mother.  She drew in a deep breath then, grazing her gloved fingertips between Cat’s own briefly before she drifted back over the balcony walls only to rocket away an instant after.


	32. They Clip the Wings of Birds Don't They

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth around Lillian Luthor and those who knew it threatens everything Kara has started to build as Supergirl and her relationship with Cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is yelling, and anguish and angst and development here... Be warned

Kara landed at the D.E.O. with a resounding thud, setting off an alarm or two as she bypassed the identity confirmation scanner and broke through the door.  Already she heard the sounds of armed agents taking up positions before the alarms were shut off and a stand down order was initiated.

She ignored questions towards her from a brave agent or two as she rounded another corner and headed for the main level, just as her parents came out from one of the labs, followed by Astra from the training pit.  Kara’s intended target was dead ahead, sending out orders to agents while Vasquez gave him a read out of the damage done.

Hank turned partially, seeing the Kryptonian headed his way before rounding completely.

“Do you have any idea how much a little tantrum of yours  costs?”

“Did you know?” Kara ignored his question, stepping right into his personal space as the agents around them hushed.  Astra and the Danvers’ exchanged a look before Astra gave a small nod and slowly began transversing the room to get closer to its center just in case.

“Know what?”

“Don’t play at being my superior right now J’onn.” She forced his alien name, leaving some with confused looks and others in shock. “The only reason you even think you are is because I allow it.”

“Powerful words Kara be careful-”  Hank braced himself as an afterthought, making sure not to fall into the agents behind him with the shove of the Kryptonian.

“Don’t Kara me right now.” She growled, ignoring the voices of her parents telling her to stop.  “Answer me. Did you know?”

“Know what?” Hank stepped back into her personal space, intensifying the density of his mass just in case her emotions got the better of her again.

“Lillian Luthor is Cat Grant’s sister.”

Astra stopped her movements while Eliza and Jeremiah exchanged looks, even Winn held his breath from the console he was at and waited, already recognizing that this was not going to end well.  

“Yes.”  Hank answered without fanfare, watching Kara’s posture fall while her body telegraphed an oncoming punch.

Kara curled her fist tightly into her side, holding back the instinct to hit the man in front of her. Her chest caved with each breath she struggled with, feeling the world tip on its axis all the more.

“Why didn’t you tell me? You gave me everything else, even things I didn’t want to know about her, about Cadmus. What they were doing to my aunt the whole fucking time I was on Earth but every extension beyond her son you conveniently leave out?”

“It wasn’t pertinent information.”

“It was to me!” Kara looked incensed, stepping right into him in a display befitting a silverback gorilla.

“Stand down!” Hank barked, his eyes flaring red as Kara’s turned white.

“You stand down!” Kara shouted back. “When were you going to tell me? After I helped _capture_ them, after they faced the justice system while destroying the lives of their extended family with the scandal of it all or worse?” Kara’s eyes flared dangerously as her tone took on an almost sinister sound. “Were you going to see if righteous vengeance was going to be my answer for what they did to Astra so I could tell you about it after?”

“Cat Grant has practically been estranged from her whole family-”

“THAT’S NOT AN EXCUSE FOR HER BEING A TARGET!” Kara roared, pushing at him again only to have his arms surround her biceps as Astra came up behind her in a rush, wrapping her niece up around the waist and holding tight against her struggle.

“She’s always just been bait to you hasn’t she?!”  And you continued to let me make her that by believing in you and all this!!”

Kara felt that string of memory inside her again, the one Diana had helped her find, barreling through her insides and fueling her actions.  She curled in on herself slightly before pushing off the ground and forcing Hank and Astra across the room with a shout, stumbling back off the dais once her confinement was removed.

“Kara!” Eliza shouted only to have Jeremiah reach for her and pull her back when their daughter looked at them, the fight and the rage dissolving into anguish and betrayal.  

“I won’t be a part of this…” Kara said behind the viscosity of the emotion threatening to choke her unconscious. “Not anymore.”

Kara surged off the floor, soaring towards the atrium before crashing through the glass and setting off alarm klaxons all over again. Astra righted herself and made to take off only to have Hank call after her to stop.

“Let her go.”

**\-------**

 

Alex was jolted awake by sounds in the other room, glancing at the clock she realized it was too early in the afternoon for Kara to be home and immediately grabbed the bat from beside the bed. 

She glanced at her phone seeing a number of missed calls but ignored the screen when it lit up again as she eased the door open and edged towards her sisters room through their joint bathroom. Only to drop the bat upon seeing Kara fighting with her suit in a vain attempt to get it off.

“Kara?” She cautioned, watching her sister yank her cape clean off and fling it across the apartment before collapsing.

“Help me.” She pleaded as Alex vaulted over the bed and onto the floor, taking Kara's face in her hands trying to find injury.

“What happened? What-”

“Help me take it off.” She asked again as Alex nodded emphatically before finding the release points and peeling the second skin away as Kara moved and shifted until she was in nothing but her undersuit.

“Kara,” Alex brushed her hair aside, seeing the tracks on her cheeks and the emotions that pulled and contorted the muscles in her face and body. “What happened? Why’re you home-oh God did something happen with Cat?!”

“No.. not yet.” Kara growled out a sigh, letting it carry her posture down further. “J’onn.”

“J'onn what?” Alex looked confused, scooting closer.

“Lillian Luthor, Cat's sister, was the one running Cadmus. The explosion that night, the one who had Astra and Winn and maybe even caused the helicopter crash at CatCo.”

Alex's face fell while a searing heat bloomed in her chest. “Did he...how did you-”

“That woman at Cat's the other night, that’s her daughter.”

“Wait what, I knew Cat had an older son but-”

“No...Lillian, Cat's sister, her daughter is staying with Cat. She was in the car this morning, said Cat and Carter talked all weekend about me.” Kara said in a self berating tone only to straighten suddenly, a hand over mouth. “Oh Rao...Carter,...”

“What, what about Carter if you're home now where-”

“I left him, wi- with Lena at the, at Cat's, pretended I got sick from lunch. I couldn't, I couldn't stay there any longer, not after I figured it out.”

“Kara, Kara, Kara… slow down, breathe, I'm going to go get some water and I'll be right back ok?”

Kara nodded running her hands through her hair as her mind raced over everything that had happened in the past few hours. 

Alex was up in an instant, running to the kitchen for two bottles before grabbing a blanket off the couch and skidding to a stop in front of her sister. She offered her a hand up, getting the two on the bed before pulling the blanket over them like when they were both younger.

“Take a sip, then tell me what happened, starting from this morning, okay?”

Kara nodded, thankful for the cocoon against the world no matter how fragile as she took a deep breath, settling into herself and tempering her emotions before reliving her day in full detail with her sister.

By the time she finished they were both laid out, Kara on her back and Alex on her side, head propped on her elbow serving as the proverbial tent pole.

"So you love Cat." Alex nodded with an edge of sass. "And didn't realize it until you got jealous of her niece."

"Seriously?! That's what you got from all that?"

Alex smirked gently, reaching over and squeezing her sisters shoulder. "No," she sighed, giving another squeeze.

“I just, don't, I'm not even sure what to say or to tell you Kara. Not that I'm taking his side but if he didn’t know your feelings for her and still doesn't, it's strategic and maybe it shows more trust in you than you can see. If you're around Cat all the time, she's safer than if you weren't.”

"I'm not so sure about that. If I had never gone back to work for her she wouldn't be the target she is now." Kara huffed out a breath.

"Then neither she nor Carter would be the people they are now. You can't doubt yourself like that Kara. They are better for you being in their lives. You make them better just like they've made you better."

Kara ran her hands through her hair, knowing Alex was right, and honestly she didn't even want to consider not having Cat in her life.

“It doesn't make it any better with J'onn. We said no more secrets.  I get Eliza and Jeremiah, even Winn staying. They really can do more good there not just for me. Evan Astra could offer them some real leadership-”

“You don't know if you can trust J’onn anymore.”

Kara shook her head. “I question him, I might always question him now, even if he did it to protect me, what does that say? What else would he try to protect me from or keep from me? My parents did the same thing and look how well that worked out.”

Alex drew in a sobering breath, licking her lips anxiously as thoughts of her own secret pulled at her body. As if sensing it Kara looked over at her, her sister's expression shifting as if the floor was going to break apart and swallow her whole; especially when Alex started pulling at an errant thread on her comforter.

“What.” Kara pushed, watching Alex flinch. “Alex please did you know-”

“No.” Alex stated finally looking up.

“Then what?”

“I uh, there's something I did-helped with, I’ve been trying to find a way to tell you.” Alex swallowed audibly, her eyes already starting to burn and as a result lifted Kara up to sit. “With Astra and-”

“Oh Alex.” Kara admonished, watching her sister stiffen. “Tell me you didn't.”

“Didn't?”

“Did… have you, I know you spent a lot of time with her before the, before Hank and Diana and, you didnt-”

“Didn't -what-?”

“Did you, um, did you..m- mat-” Kara actually turned red and the look on her face told Alex exactly what Kara was implying.

“What? No! Jesus Kara!” It was Alex's turn to flush red, feeling all too familiarly acquainted thoughts richochett through her, suddenly making the actual secret pale in comparison, at least for the immediate moment.

“Thank Rao.” Kara breathed. “I might've killed her.”

“Excuse you!”

“What? You're my sister. I mean Astra's, well she's Astra and on Krypton she was legendary for a lot of things-"

“I don't need to hear that and besides I'm not this virginal innocent Kara.”

“I don't need to hear _that_ ,” Kara groaned, laying back out. “If it's not that then what did, did you and Astra-”

“She took me your fortress in the North.” Alex blurted out and in that moment Kara almost wished Alex was about to tell her about some affair she was having with Astra.

Almost.

“She did what?”

“She took me-”

“No I heard, forget that, when? When did she take you?”

“The day after you saved Cat .” Alex confessed watching her sister try to rationalize what she was being told. “I’ve been wanting, trying to tell you but you kept staying later and then Mom and Dad showed up and then I was just here alone and I've had so much, too much time to think and I'm sorry I didn't tell you Astra made me swear we would tell you together but not-”

“What did you do?” Kara asked with a stoicism befitting Astra, sitting up and pulling the blanket off them both watching tears slip down Alex's face. “Tell me.”

“She was going to die, I had to help, Astra said-”

“Astra was dying?!”

Alex shook her head, reaching for Kara's hand, holding onto it like a lifeline.

“Not her.” Alex squeezed hard, pulling in a sharp breath, knowing what she was about to say might change so many things, as if Kara needed more to fall down around her now. It was the last thing she wanted to say suddenly, Astra's words about Alura's possible intentions beating themselves into her brain.

“Kara your mother is alive, Ast-Astra said she doesn't know where but-” before Alex could even finish Kara was gone, drawers on her dresser suddenly askew  and the nearest window open. 

Alex was up as fast as she could manage, stumbling over the blanket as she caught herself against the window frame.

“KARA!”

Kara was already breaking the sound barrier, pushing herself harder and faster than she even realized she could fly, headed for the water. Some part of her realizing the harder she pushed the more destruction she might cause.  Once clear of the vast majority of the surrounding population she rose higher, sonic booms concussing in her wake before she twisted her trajectory sharply, skirting along the stratosphere like a shooting star only to fade out upon reentry.

Inundated with white and rock she slowed her acceleration so as not to disrupt natural formations of the surrounding land masses until the Beaufort Sea rose up to meet her.  She pitched left, arcing away from even the most minute of populations that far north until there was nothing but her and the Arctic Ocean.  

She caught a break in the ice sheet, twisting hard before punching through the slurry of ice and ocean, diving through the would be frigid surroundings and deep below where the light could barely reach. 

Navigating through the water just as easily through the skies, she dove deeper still, until the twilight of the season turned to black. She forced herself onward, dodging glacial formations until she caught the barest pin prick of light and barreled towards it.

Kara erupted from a far pool, sending ice and water and sunstone in all directions before landing on a more solid structure. The image of her father already standing before her.

“Kara.” He cautioned as she stood. His matrix blown apart as she walked through him.

“You helped them.” She stated, her voice echoing about as she worked her way up the internal structures of the fortress.

“I did not know-”

“You told me she died. That everyone I loved, everything I knew died.”

He reformed ahead of her again, her eyes already burning white only to fizzle and spit as the sunstones around her turned red. 

Searing cold registered in her body, lancing through her like lightning and forcing her to the ground as she felt her strength dissolve into a faint murmur of its usual state with a resounding gasp. It felt as if a thousand needles were flaying her alive from the inside out as she struggled to control the shake of her body.

“Kara Zor-El you will calm yourself.”

“You LIED to me!” She shouted in anguish.

Zor-El moved beside her, kneeling down even as she swiped at him, her fist going through his matrix and setting her off balance and back onto the support of her hands.

“I didn’t know my little star, that information wasn’t programmed into the ghost that I am to you now.”

“Why… why would you do that?”  Kara whimpered, knowing the phantom of her father couldn’t answer, he wasn’t programed to.  The weight of that alone twisted her insides, overwhelming her all over again.  She felt so tired, her body revolting against her, once endless adrenaline finally running out as she allowed her body to sink to the floor, features contorting in pain and heartache as she curled in on herself until the world went black.


	33. First Star to the Left and Straight on til Solitude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza has a heartfelt conversation with Hank while Kara seeks solace from an unlikely source

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SUPER SPECIAL Thanks to ChupeyDupey for beta/review of this chapter! It was greatly appreciated!!! Thank you for always commenting and reading and putting up with the crazy length that is this chapter/story.

“Sir we have an unscheduled arrival at the east entrance, single individual, riding a motorcycle.”

Hank scanned the footage relayed to him, watching the frantic movements of the person in question before they removed their helmet and stared up at the hidden camera knowingly.

“Let her in to the containment hall, have an agent escort her to the labs where her parents are and secure the vehicle in the garage.”

“I’ll do it, sir,” Vasquez spoke up, having overheard the relay between Henshaw and the other operative. “She trusts me, sir.”

Hank shifted his jaw, hands set on his waist before he nodded. Vasquez was up in an instant, nodding to something Winn whispered to her before leaving the command dais at full stride. The director turned to the young man then, raising a high brow.

“Something you’d care to share with the group?”

Winn swallowed and stammered, nearly fumbling the small pad in his hand to the floor before hugging it to his chest. “Just uh, not to use her full name when she’s agitated like that Mr, Sir Director man.”

The nearby agent barely contained the snort with the response, pulling Hank’s attention for a moment before it turned back to Winn.

“Important safety tip, thanks, Egon.”

That time Winn did drop the pad with the movie reference, apologizing over himself as he picked it up.

“As you were Mr. Schott,” Hank ordered, not as if the kid was one of his own, honorary certainly, but he could come and go as he pleased. For whatever reason, he had yet to leave. Despite his short tenure within the facility, Winn had started to become a part of their little inner family. It didn’t hurt that he had been with Kara and the others, but it was his intelligence and tenacity for solving problems with the ease of taking a breath that had kept him there.

“Yes sir, sorry, sir… I’m….gonna go over there now.”

Hank nodded slowly, watching the boy rush off and slip into a nearby tech-labs to fiddle with one of the various projects he had been invited to work on by others within the facility.

“You like him don’t you?.” Eliza’s voice was clear despite her place on the main floor beyond the command dais, causing Hank to turn away from the screens and regard her fully.

“He has potential.”

Eliza nodded once over, glancing past him to the monitors where she watched her daughter meet up with Vasquez before looking back at him.

“You know you’re about to get another mouthful right?”

Hank placed his hands behind his back, letting out a dark sigh as he stepped down from the dais and closer to the bio-engineer.

“I wouldn’t expect any less, given the examples, her parents have set.”

Eliza actually laughed in her throat, a soft noise of amusement that settled around her chest as she folded her arms around a binder full of her latest research.

“Kara’s Aunt warned us about this.”

Hank rose a brow, tilting his head curiously.

“Not Astra, her other Aunt Martha. Around Christmas.” She turned along with him then as he gestured for her to take the lead as they moved away from the command area. “When Kara had to keep Carter for a while to spare him from his own family. I wondered then, how wrong the influence of a person had to be for their own mother to send them away over a time that’s supposed to be about family.”

Hank searched his memory then, casually walking at an easy pace with the woman. “From what I can recall, Lillian Luthor was never in Cat Grant’s presence at that time.”

Eliza gave a stiff smile and a small shake of her head, wondering just how much he had indeed kept from her other daughter, and perhaps even the rest of them.

“She was keeping him away from her own mother,” Eliza clarified. Cat somehow figured leaving her three-year-old son with his new nanny and a family of strangers, that she herself had never met, for that long was a far safer, healthier option for him.”

“What are you trying to imply here Eliza?”

“I thought you could read minds.”

Hank sighed. “Yes, but I don’t unless asked and reaffirmed.”

“What I’m trying to say is this. For all the things you’ve done for me and my family, over time and up to now, especially for Kara, it feels as if you’re trying to make up for something. Something inherent in you; something most often only a parent can seem to achieve.”

Hank stopped walking then and Eliza moved ahead of him onto to turn around and face him.

“Kara keeps the whole of all that she is, Kara and Supergirl, hidden away from someone who, after seeing that display of hers today, has become far more important to her than even Martha foresaw back then.” Eliza studied the man carefully, trying to gauge his response to her.

“She’s in love, she fell for that little boy as if he were her own without even knowing it. Just like I know, she’s fallen for Cat Grant. She has that same something that you do. She thinks she’s protecting them both by hiding the best part of herself because ultimately people like Lillian Luthor will claim it is the worst part of herself.”

“I see that in you, trying to protect her like she was your own. I know you can’t read her mind but you wouldn’t have had to if you’ve been watching Cat that long and how she was before Kara came into her life and the way she is now. The problem now is, she doesn’t know how to trust you, no matter your intentions. She won’t know how to trust herself to tell Cat about those parts of herself that make her who she is. The parts that connect her to everything that was her life before Earth, that chance she never got with Krypton’s destruction to be normal, to live and love and just exist.”

Hank drew in a shallow breath, holding it for a long moment as he turned his gaze away from her and cleared his throat.

“I don’t want to see my parents I want to see Director Henshaw.”

Alex’s voice permeated the room, causing Eliza to turn and regard her then before looking back at Hank and patting him on the arm before walking down an adjacent hall.

“I’m over here Ms. Danvers.”

“Ms. Danvers is my mother.”

“I'm sorry. Alex, what can I do for you?”

“Was it worth it, cause I can bet not.”

Hank raised an eyebrow looking down at her crossing his arms over his chest.

“Where's Ast-”

“ _I am here Brave One_.” The woman in question stepped from around the stairwell leading to the training pit. She looked up at Hank, who gave a curt nod in reply before stepping away and leaving the women to themselves.

“Not here,” Alex stated, hugging her jacket tighter around herself.

“ _You should see your parents. They are worried about Kara and undoubtedly you with you coming here.”_

“Kara knows.”

Astra tipped her head curiously, studying Alex’s posture and body language, feeling her own shoulders drop with her exhale. She nodded once, before looking past Alexandra to the main floor, noting a few of the agents looking their way while trying to appear as if they were busy working.

Without looking back she reached over and grabbed Alex’s jacket, drawing her along as she backed up into the nearest hallway, tucking them both against the wall in one of the few blind spots she had caught on the security cameras.

Alex continued on with the motion even after Astra had stopped, fitting her arms around Astra’s body and hugging her tightly while the Kryptonian followed her lead and wrapped her up.

“ _It will be alright Alexandra._ ” Astra soothed quietly even as she felt the other woman shake her head.

“Aren’t we going to go after-”

 _“No. It will only complicate things further, and in order to get there fast enough I would have to go alone.”_ She felt Alex tighten her hold almost as if on instinct and closed her eyes to the sensation.

“She’s not going to forgive me for this, not after everything else.”

“ _You do not give Kara enough credit. She will eventually come to understand it was not your fault, merely your willingness to help me as well as her._ ” Astra pulled Alex back gently enough to look at her. “ _The blame and focus of her ire will lie with me as it should.”_

Alex huffed out a breath, anger blooming in her chest at the words. “I am so tired of this honorable bullshit. And yes I know that’s hypocritical but it has to stop Astra or it’s going to ruin all of us more than it’s already starting to.” Alex slid her arms away and stepped back as Astra’s hold slid away from her.

The two looked at one another for a long moment before Astra tipped her gaze towards the mouth of the hall towards the main room then back to Alex.

_“You need to come with me then.”_

Alex glanced behind herself not seeing anything, then back to the other woman confused.

“I-”

_“It concerns those samples you sent your mother and something else that no one has informed Kara of yet.”_

“Yet? My god how much-”

“ _Brave One, this was not withheld from her, certain things about it have been yes, but not this. Had Kara come here without being in distress she would be just as aware as you will be_ shortly _.”_

Alex drew in a deep breath, adjusting her jacket before giving a nod. “Lead the way then.”

Astra gave a small nod, turning away and heading down the hall towards Eliza’s office.

**\-------**

Kara stirred into awareness despite feeling as if her head were filled with jello and her mouth with cotton. Hands spread out over the warmth of sheets and the denser fabric of plush blankets as she cautiously opened her eyes.

She pushed up on shaky arms, her heart seizing in her chest as she recognized her surroundings and the view of Krypton out the adjacent window. She turned enough to sit, looking down at herself and the crest of her family embossed on her sleeping gown before looking back up to the room realizing it was her own back home.

There was movement to her left, a door opening and the haze of a figure she couldn’t quite make out, the voice behind it was instantly recognized as her mother’s and the second she came into focus she heard her name again.

“Kara?”

Kara shot awake with a sharp gasp of air, still feeling the chill of the air creeping over her skin. She pulled the plush warmth surrounding her over her exposed skin. Blue eyes searched about wildly, recognizing the room for what it was. Despite the mirror of its layout to her room back home, this was anything but Krypton.

Crystals of white and blue surrounded her from floor to ceiling, despite the hum of the sunstones nearest the floor with a red hue that reminded her of her own sun before it was destroyed.

“Kara.” Her mother’s voice was real, not a ghost or remnant of her exhausted mind clawing into her awareness. Its tone was cautious as much as it was soothing even as Kara pulled the blankets tighter around herself.

“Mother?” Kara tested, not seeing her in the room itself. She felt her lungs cease to function as she watched the woman seem to appear out of nowhere within the doorway and walk into the room.

“My little star,” Alura spoke genuinely, her heart aching by the sound of it as she hastened her movements; meeting her daughter halfway at the edge of the bed and wrapping her up in her arms. Kara clung to the other woman, pawing at her body and pressing the two of them impossibly close until the lack of temperate warmth shocked her back into herself and made her heart ache all over again.

“I have missed you,” Alura confessed, feeling Kara’s sudden tension and eased her hold, settling on the bed. As Kara sat back, she made sure to gently capture her features before she fled completely.

“You’re not real.” Kara husked, eyes already welling with tears at one more betrayal even as her mind tried to rationalize that this was not just a simple A.I. matrix.

“Here with you now, not exactly no. But I am very much alive, and this is the best we could do with such little time.”

“W-we?”

Alura sat back then, while Kara studied her, watching the bed shift and move with her weight. Her touch, despite its lack of warmth, was incredibly tangible.

“Kara there is so much you do not know.”

Kara had to laugh, the sound broken and altogether melancholy as she shook her head and looked heavenward. “So I keep finding out.” She took a deep breath then, rubbing her hand over her face to clear it of her emotions and spread warmth back into her skin.

“Is this just how it’s going to be? Can’t trust Kara with anything, it might break her. Let’s all lie and make sure she can’t make her own choices in anything.” Her words were like a bitter tonic, twisting at her insides and nearly causing her to choke on their vehemence.

“My little star, the things you are unaware of were not because you could not be trusted. You were barely twelve, and those who would have seen our house, our family, maybe even all of Krypton fall to a false new order would not restrain themselves from using you against us. More than they already had attempted.”

Kara let out a small growl of a sound, shaking her head. “Why? Why not just let me die and Cla...Kal?. We would be with Rao and the others-”

“As I said, there is so much you do not know.”

Kara sighed, her shoulders falling and gaze turning from her mother. “Why are my powers gone?”

Alura looked around, taking note of the sunstones before looking back to Kara with a hint of a smile. “The ghost of your father, or his program, has adapted with my help in a way. It was my suggestion to ensure you could not simply walk away once your presence was detected. As I recall you were a rather passionate child, very much like your Aunt Astra.”

“I could have just been coming here to check on something.”

“Yes because you have done that so often since putting on that suit of armor.” Her mother said, tipping her head to the side to try and pull Kara’s attention. “You were… hurt, angry, even irrational. I would have thought by now you would have grown out of tantrums.”

Kara shook her head with an incredulous breath of a laugh, tugging the blankets tighter around herself. “You’ve lied to me, then, you convinced Aunt Astra and even my sister to lie to me.” Her eyes cut up then if she couldn’t blast through the phantom in front of her she could at least stare her down to the best of her ability.

“I was lied to when I first came here, despite all the teachings and all the warnings and all of your ‘better interests’ and honorable lessons… I never should've come back.” Kara couldn’t help but laugh suddenly, sickeningly sarcastic, the absurd amusement unable to contain itself.

“They have a saying here on Earth, those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it. Honestly, I should be thanking you., Thank you, mother, for condemning me, and Kal and oh yes Astra and even yourself. Thank you for making me a living example of how to constantly repeat the past and never fucking learn. I didn’t even get a chance to remember the past beyond my twelve year old self and it was constantly overruled by watching my entire world burn over and over and over again!”

Kara rose then, taking the blankets with her,, Realizing she had nothing else on beneath them, she fastened them hastily around herself as she moved away from the echo of her mother. She let out a rough exhale, keeping her back turned to the woman while trying to retain the warmth of the blankets and her own body heat.

“I don’t know what I did to Rao…”

“What you did to Rao?”

“I’m the only one of us that wasn’t granted the luxury of being unconscious when…-” Kara dropped her head feeling her emotions threatening to choke her silent. She knew Kal-El remembered nothing, just that he went to sleep and woke up on Earth. Astra had been on Fort Rozz, and given her mother’s lack of conjecture on the matter, she assumed she was as unaware of that image as the rest of them.

“I watched all of it.” Kara fought for her voice. “There were pieces of my whole world embedded in my pod until I landed here and even then they were burned away all over again during that.”

“I never lied to you. Nor did your father. We kept things from you certainly but never lied.”

Kara turned on her then, her eyes red rimmed and dangerous. “You didn’t have to, you just conveniently forgot to tell me things for my own good. Just like this place, I’ve asked so many things that have no answers, that have been locked away or are not programmed to provide me with that information.” She mocked, twisting further and making her way back to the other woman, glaring down at her.

“Tell me now., Prove you’re real and not some programmed construct whose boundaries have been corrupted. Or that you’re just a programed ghost that’s supposed to show up when I’m angry and irrational to shut me up.”

“Ask me a question, one that you have been told cannot be answered or that the memories here would have no knowledge of.”

Kara continued to search the other woman’s eyes, finding more life to them than the phantoms of her father and uncle despite the veiled detachment they held.

“What did you do to Winn?”

Alura couldn’t help the small smile that touched her face, giving a small nod of approval to the question.

“When I first encountered Winn it was by accident. Astra was in stasis, as she had been since she landed on Earth, when you did. Only there was an unauthorized access to her pod. I realized with it, human technologies were clearly advancing if they were now capable of interfacing with the pod itself after nearly ten years.” Alura’s gaze never wavered from her daughter, watching her mind absorb her words meticulously.

“For a human Winn… is incredibly smart, especially given his age in human standards, even if he was merely continuing where his father had left off.” Alura stood then easing Kara back as she started to pace the room.

“I could hear a woman in the background, demanding that he continue what his father had started with the pod before additional threats were issued. That was when I appeared to him, not unlike I am with you here now. Only much smaller.” Alura smiled at the memory, despite the nature of it she had been amused when Winn had called her a Princess. If she ever saw him she would have to ask about that.

Kara watched her mother pace, seeing her fingers knot in front of themselves a bit before she put them behind her back in her usual justicar stance. Having forgotten that was her mother’s only tell, which she had attempted to counter with that very posture given her position on Krypton.

“I showed him how to open the pod, but maintain her stasis.” There was a note of regret in her voice then and Kara flexed her jaw waiting. “I did not know what they were going to do until it was too late to stop it.” Alura drew in a deep breath, following the trail of sunstones towards the nearly endless ceiling as she sent a prayer of forgiveness to Rao.

“Meaning what?”

“The tales your Uncle spoke of Earth were grossly exaggerated, we all knew it, but given as we collectively chose it for your and Kal-El’s benefit…” Alura let her words slip into oblivion, letting her shoulders. “I had hoped better individuals would have found her as others did you. Winn was her only chance for that and maybe, he reminded me a little of you, and maybe Kal grown up a bit.” Alura closed her eyes then, pulling the memories up as if they were just yesterday.

“He has not told you of any of this has he?”

Kara tightened the blanket around herself. Alex had been the one to know Winn before her. She had helped him prior to when they had rescued Astra, but Kara had never pushed as to the extent. Nor had she pressed Astra on the matter of her connection to him either, which only fed into her own thread of fault for the culmination of situations that had come to light today alone. There was a complacency to it all she had allowed, clouded with a kind of naivety that she knew was afraid to give up.

It was the same with Cat when she considered it, the helicopter incident should have been enough to push the questions, the connections, fight for more information when she saw the gaps and various particulars that were either missing or simply left blank.

“No.” Kara finally answered, looking back up at her mother’s figure watching her nod.

“Astra had been within her stasis unit on Fort Rozz before she was found. After that, the unit was removed and kept underground. As I came?to understand it,in the entire time she was here, she was never exposed to Earth’s sun, especially with the pod still sealed due to its environmental protectors.”

“It was how the individuals who had her were able to do what they did, how they were able to get her blood and how they were able to control Winn all the more by making him their first test subject.”

Kara stiffened at that bit of information watching her mother turn to look at her.

“I could hear him, faintly at first, nearly as much as I could hear Astra when she would partially come out of stasis before being drowned by it again. Blood bonds us all is not just a rallying cry, not here.” Alura started to move closer watching her daughter warily.

“I activated portions of his human mind with her blood in his system to give him a better chance against them through the pod, however fleeting. He learned our language within a day after.” Alura sighed, setting back down beside her daughter.

“When he survived his procedure to the satisfaction of his and Astra’s captors, I began to hear more voices. Far more radical, disturbed, broken ones. Voices I could not calm or whom considered my voice merely one among the growing number they already possessed in their primitive madness. One by one they were all silenced, except for Winn. Which, as I feared, only made him a greater target for those people. It was shortly after that when he helped Astra escape by programming a delayed retraction of the stasis functionality of her pod.”

Kara looked equally horrified as she did grateful that she hadn't relayed anything concerning Winn to the ghosts of this place and was certain Astra nor Alex had either. She turned further towards her mother, searching her eyes, her features, the solidity of her projected form and tentatively reached up, letting her fingers touch along the side of the woman's face.

She swallowed thickly as Alura let her explore her countenance ; watching the woman close her eyes only when Kara's fingers touched on her forehead and slid down their full length, before drifting away. She heard her heart in her ears, the burn of her eyes as they became glass pools all over again as those eyes, her eyes, opened up to her once more.

“Where are you?” Kara's voice was a fraction of its usual self as she waited.

“I am within my pod, the one your father forced me into after rendering me unconscious. That is why the ghost of your father here has no method to answer your questions concerning it.”

“So he gave you just as much of a life sentence as you did me.”

Alura had sense enough to look minimally ashamed at that truth before giving a nod.

“Where is your pod?” She asked with an edge of annoyance.

“I am unsure. Your Aunt is convinced I have hidden myself away from her but in reality, I have obscured the pods status readouts to her.”

“Why?”

“The pods navigation system has been compromised. There is too much interference which means I am either in some kind of anomaly or I have landed somewhere uninhabited or too far beneath the terra and the core of a planet is causing interruption.”

“But why keep it from Astra?”

“So she would not try to find me, before finding you. And because, my little star, there is the stark reality that I may never find my way to Earth. Which makes what she and your sister accomplished here that much more difficult when a decision must be made about me.”

“Mother.” Kara warned as Alura took her hands and held them firmly.

“Kara, I do not want to live infinitely lost within the universe.”

“Mother please..”

“No. You cannot choose to accept some truths and ignore others now. With me, your father, or any others who you feel have lied and kept things from you, not if you want to be considered as something more profound than you have clearly been given credit for.” Astra, brushed the side of her daughter's face.

“You are so special Kara, the things I have learned, the woman you have become is incredible given what you have had to endure. You want a reason why people keep the darker truths, the hard to hear things from you? Perhaps because they have wanted to spare you a reality they have come to understand as unchangeable in it's darkness. While simultaneously having lost their own wonder about them and the good things the world offers us while having experienced far less turmoil and death and destruction.” She took Kara's face in both her hands then.

“You have been forged in fires far greater than any should have had to. Iit is incomprehensible save for some that might relate but only minimally like your Aunt. Even then, she was an adult, had lived and loved and experienced life outside of such turmoils. Others will never understand. To them you should not be the woman you are after so much and they are terrified they may be the ones who serve as a catalyst of a kind of fall into darkness.”

Alura lifted her chin then, Kara's hands pulling at her own to hold them near her heart.

“You are like Rao, a star, burning brightly without falter to those around you. A point of light within infinite darkness that they cannot help but start to consider what it might be like again.”

“Like what might be like?” Kara whispered through tears.

“To hope.” Alura breathed. “You are my most precious creation Kara. You are my legacy, good or bad. I am not asking for you to make any choice about my physical existence now or in the nearest of futures, however, should that time come, know I am complete and that you will have to be as well.”

Kara felt something deep within her break apart, seizing her chest and collapsing her lungs until she choked on the relief of it flooding her body. The two wrapped themselves up in one another, as Kara felt the chill in her mother's body dissolve and buried herself in the embrace. Alura held her tightly enough to actually cause discomfort before Kara squeezed even harder. They remained like that for countless moments until Kara's throat was raw and her eyes had nothing left to spill.

“Rest now, I will remain until you wake again.”

“I have more questions…” Kara rasped as she was tucked into the recess of blankets and comfort.

“And I will answer them, after you sleep little star.”


	34. Late Night Charmers and a Glass of Whiskey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Lena discuss the ties that bind them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Super thank you for ChupeyDupey for the beta!

By the time Cat had her keys in the lock of her door, it was past ten. She still had a few things to finalize before turning in and had expected a quiet house with her arrival, devoid of wakefulness save for Kara; and possibly Lena if she were home.

What she hadn’t been expecting was her niece and a very awake Carter calling out ' _surprise'_ with gentle enthusiasm once she broke the threshold.

“What’re you doing up?” Cat intended it for Carter, even if Lena was already headed her way with the boy and an answer as she shrugged out of her coat and set her bag down.

“I wasn’t sure when he needed to be put down. Kara left here so early, I couldn’t get a chance to ask and I knew you were already so busy with everything at CatCo. He just wanted one more story and then he wanted to wait for you-”

“Evangelena,” Cat interrupted, easing Carter from the other woman’s arms and bouncing him to her. He held her face gently before touching his forehead to hers and giggling.

“You sir are too much trouble for your own good.”

“Mama sick.” Carter supplied, causing her to frown.

“I think he means Kara,” Lena interjected, having heard Kara try to correct him all day on the title he refused to give up. In all honesty, she thought it was endearing, as was the explanation Kara stammered out to her earlier in the afternoon about it.

“What happened? I know you met with her this morning in the car, I assumed you went out into the city again.”

It was Lena’s turn to look a bit hesitant.

“Lenateryx stayed all day!” Carter said with a small clap followed by an extravagant yawn, before thumping gently against his mother as she wrapped him up before looking at her niece.

The woman gave a slightly nervous laugh followed by a full grin. “Maybe you should let me put him down? He’s speaking nonsense now.”

Cat mm’d in a vaguely amused fashion. “I’ll take care of it. Then we’ll talk a bit.”

Lena thumbed towards the kitchen. “Just going to go clean that up a bit while you settle him.”

“Good idea.” Cat teased, watching Lena disappear into the kitchen before a small clang caught her attention followed by the quiet swear, and apology, that actually made Cat laugh a bit.

“Your cousin is silly isn’t she baby?”

Carter nodded against his mother, letting out another yawn and stretching his little body in her arms as she carried him to his room and helped him get ready for bed. She skipped over a few of the usual elements of his routine, explaining how it was far later than he had time for if he wanted to get any proper dreaming in.

Each answer seemed to satisfy him easily enough until he was laid out and tucked in and already pushing the limits of wakefulness. Cat gently pushed his hair aside, reminding herself she needed to schedule a haircut for him, studying his features carefully as she brought his blanket up just a little higher and made sure his stuffed dinosaur was snuggled in tight beside him.

“Goodnight my prince.” She whispered before slipping out of his room and easing the door partially closed behind herself.

Already she knew someone else was nearby, the feeling pulling at the corner of her mouth as the only thing she heard her mind respond with upon its realization was ‘ _that’s not Kara_.’

Cat turned slightly, seeing Lena near the mouth of the stairs looking somewhat apologetic which only caused Cat to raise an eyebrow at her.

“You weren’t intruding on anything if that’s what you’re worried about,” Cat said watching Lena’s expression shift to one of intrigue at how her Aunt had discerned that before she stepped a little closer.

“You are really great with him.”

Cat heard the touch of wonder in Lena’s voice, laced with a quiet sorrow before she waved for her to follow upon turning to head down the hall into her office at the end of it. Already she was fixing herself a drink when Lena entered behind her, taking in the office space that was nothing like the one her aunt ran command point from at CatCo.

“Take a seat,” Cat said gently, hearing Lena plop down into a chair rather unceremoniously before she turned and handed her a glass.

“Oh.. uh... Thank you.” Her legs were already pulled up in the chair.  Her hands curled around her glass as her Aunt took the seat just beside her, instead of rounding her desk and sitting behind it like she had expected.

Her shoes thunked on the floor with a sigh of relief before she swallowed a mouthful of the whiskey in her glass and not unlike her niece pulled her legs up into her own chair, although less haphazard and carefree. She gritted her teeth against the initial taste, realizing how empty her stomach was with the burn of it across her insides before she offered up her glass in a mock toast.

“Cheers.” She uttered while Lena chuckled, sniffing at her glass but not venturing into chancing a sip as yet.

“What’s up Aunt Kitty?”

“I should be asking you that question.” Cat mused, adjusting her level of comfort to the confines of that chair until she felt her body relax a little further. “You were there when she came in today weren’t you?”

Lena pulled in a slow breath, turning the glass over and over in her fingers before she nodded.

“I thought you were going to go look for places for something to wear this weekend,” Cat said around another sip, her voice echoing faintly within her glass.

“I wanted to meet Kara. The way you and Carter had talked about her, especially after that first night when I showed up and-”

“Which was why I suggested you go along in my place to pick her up this morning,” Cat interjected, she wouldn’t trade her niece’s visit for anything, save maybe fifteen more minutes before she had pounded on that door. “What made you stay?”

“You.”

Cat looked confused and a little shocked, inclining her head to the side as she waited for Lena to expand.

“Listen, Aunt Kitty, you have to understand anytime I asked about you, I either got no response, empty words or, what I now know, were stories about how you turned your back on the family. Especially when all my mother ever wanted to do for you, according to her, was to help.” Lena studied her aunt carefully, watching her words hit like daggers to her body even if her expression remained untouched.

“Then I stopped asking. It was easier to pretend than to argue. Especially if Mother came to visit, which I can barely count on one hand. When I saw you on the cover of a tabloid of all things…” Lena gave a small shrug. “That’s when I worked on getting in touch with you.”

“And how my assistant brought your inquiries to my attention,” Cat stated. “That doesn’t exactly explain today-”

“I stayed because I wanted to spend more time with you. The real you, although I have to say work you is..” Lena couldn’t help the grin that pulled at her features. “You really do know Supergirl.”

Cat couldn’t help but laugh then. The heart of it wasn’t quite there, as the memory of how she had sent the heroine away earlier rushed back into her system. Not to mention the anger she still felt towards her sister and her prejudiced ways, she was indeed the oldest and much like their mother now.

“Sorry I couldn’t make a proper introduction.” Cat allowed after another sip of her whiskey, watching Lena test her own and grimace with her swallow.

“S’ok” She choked, swirling the liquid in her glass and smelling it again to try and tame the taste of it. “Wow… “ She swallowed with a little more effort before looking back over at her aunt. “I was too busy cowering on the floor waiting for Kara.”

Cat raised a high brow at that admission.

“She left to go pick up our lunch today right after Mother showed up.” Lena puffed her cheeks out with her exhale on the weight of that. “I swore she was still in Metropolis, if I had known she was going to show up, I might have stayed in Ireland a bit longer before coming here.”

Cat ‘tsk’’d away with her tongue against her teeth, finishing off her whiskey before leaning forward and plucking Lena’s from her grasp easily.

“Alright I wouldn’t have, I just, I wanted to be more prepared before seeing her. Unified front and all that.”

“Is that what you are trying to achieve?”

Lena huffed out another breath, running a hand through her hair. “I… I’m not even all that sure what I’m doing. But she can’t continue to think she controls everything in my life, especially not now, with all the lies and veiled threats.”

“You’re walking a dangerous path with your mother by doing this, and while I may have encouraged it to a degree, and I’ll own that, I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.”

Lena looked over at her Aunt then, having picked out various truths amidst the lies her mother had told her over so much time. It was a bit stunning to have those truths confirmed.

“But I also don’t want you to compromise yourself and the convictions you have either.” Cat drank down a good half of Lena’s drink before clearing her throat. “I never stood up to my mother, not the way you are. Sure I was defiant and went against a lot of what was expected of me.” The corner of her mouth quirked then as Adam and Lois rapidly sprung to mind. “But not when it ultimately mattered.” Cat shook her head slightly. “Not even after Daddy died.”

Lena studied her Aunt, watching a full range of emotions barrel through her body and etch themselves into finer lines along her features.

“I still talk to her when it’s convenient for her, but it’s vapid, and Lillian.” Cat sighed, and Lena could see there was an even greater weight to whatever had happened there by comparison. “I wish I knew what happened to your mother,” Cat spoke with a finite air of honesty that made Lena’s spine straighten almost involuntarily.

“When we, when -I- was younger, Lilly was my world. Our mother wasn’t around and when she was it was typically because there was some kind of event or party or function that required us to be the picture-perfect family. Even that was fleeting. Lilly took better care of me than the nannies we had sometimes.” Cat chewed on the corner of her mouth a bit. Those memories, however fleeting she wished them to be, played out in her mind with a perfectly astringent clarity.

“When I got old enough to understand things, I found out why our mother was so endearing.” She took another sip of her drink to bite back the contempt in her voice. “Lilly stood up for me a few times until she got old enough to really understand the depth of what it was to be our mother’s daughter, among other things.”

“What do you mean Aunt Kitty?”

“Lilly and I are nearly ten years apart you know and eventually, I guess the novelty of a baby sister wore off. Lilly got enthralled with school and boys, mostly boys and all the things a teenager does. Mother quickly took to her by the time she was sixteen and as tall as a model. Which meant she was rarely home and was doted on accordingly.”

Cat looked at Lena directly then, adjusting her posture and setting one foot on the ground while she pulled the other against her chest to use as a kind of armrest before finishing off Lena’s glass and setting it down beside her own on the desk.

“I was the accident," Cat explained. "Daddy always said it was because I was meant for this world, Mother I think believed the opposite.”

“That’s… horrible.”

Cat shrugged somewhat. “You and I are not so different in our little origin stories. Perhaps that’s why we connect the way we do. Although you have a different mother, which ironically is the same reason I get along quite well with my other sister. I don’t believe Lilly even acknowledges her existence anymore. Even if she should.”

“I don’t, I mean mother has never made any secret about that.” There was a sad lilt to Lena’s voice. Just like her Aunt Kitty had said, as soon as she was able to understand, her mother hand found no reason to keep the truth of her Father’s affair from her; nor how lucky she was to have someone who cared enough to take her in considering her particular set of circumstances.

It was an odd cycle to consider, hearing about Cat’s own recollections of her childhood, but at least she shared the same parents with Lena’s own mother. Unlike Lena herself and Lex, they only shared her father. She had only come to understand how much a threat to her brother’s supposed legacy she was within the past few years.

“Wait... what other sister?” Lena looked confused, trying to interpret her aunt’s words and with her appearance Cat let out a breathless little laugh.

“Turns out, Daddy wasn’t so faithful in the beginning.  Should you get the opportunity to understand your grandmother outside the lens of your mother, you might know why. Not that I condone what Daddy did, but that’s a whole other mess.”

“So wait… I have two aunts?!”

“You said you wanted to know more.”

“I-yeah but, about you, and Carter and… holy shit.”

Cat couldn’t help but laugh watching Lena process things. “I’m sorry, I thought your mother -might- have mentioned her but apparently not.”

“Wh-why? Like I said she only mentioned you when I pushed or to point out something awful about how you abandoned everyone or something.”

“Sharon was the one who brought you to your father’s house. You were too little to remember then I guess.”

“What?!” Lena felt the floor tilt a little bit. She had dubious memories of being brought into the house of Luthor, but that was just before she turned five. She furrowed her brow, striving to recall anything beyond a fleeting memory of reddish hair and that the woman seemed tall and strong. Which was why initially she had welcomed Lillian’s presence until she learned better of it.

“Sharon found you easy enough. She was a police officer, it’s kind of what they do. I’m not sure how she knew Lionel exactly but, he put her to the task of finding you and here we are.”

“You’re saying, your half-sister, my half-aunt, found me when I was in foster care and brought me to my... to the Luthor's house?”

“Simply put, yes.”

Lena was up then, both glasses snatched up as she returned to the bar and grabbed the same bottle Cat had earlier and refilled them before handing one back to Cat and downing half her own with a hearty grimace.

“Jesus…” She gagged while Cat chuckled only to watch Lena take another modest sip. “...Just...Jesus. How convoluted is this family?”

Cat bit her bottom lip around her smile. “There are not enough hours tonight for those details.”

Lena let out a bark of a laugh only to remember Carter was down the hall and immediately covered her mouth looking at the door, while Cat snickered.

“I have a question.” Cat sat forward somewhat, adjusting to a more satisfactory position.

“Anything.”

“What happened with Kara this afternoon? Carter said she was sick? She never gets sick, it’s one of the best things about her.”

“I’m sure not the best thing.” Lena teased as she flopped down in her chair. Unsure if it was the information her aunt was supplying, the whiskey, or a combination of the two, for her ungraceful-like movements.

“Touche.”

“When Kara came back from getting all of us lunch she was fine. She was a little quieter than before but she said something about a phone call she had gotten while she was out involving her sister?”

“Alexandra?”

Lena nodded, “Alex, yeah," her brain randomly compared her sibling and Kara's in namesake for a brief moment. Forcing an odd amusement to the similarity before she continued with a clearing little shake of her head. "But she said it was a family thing and I didn’t push her. She snuck me out around two... two thirty maybe? We took Adelaide to her mom’s museum, which we need to go there by the way just to look around. Aaaaand then we came here, but Kara said she felt sick to her stomach and asked if I would be okay watching Carter until you got home.”

Lena watched her aunt’s entire body seem to shift with that information, her mind assuredly going into overdrive.  As much as Lena wanted to continue their conversation, she didn’t want to prevent her aunt from doing whatever it was she was considering, yet again. 

“While your driver might not be available, I’m sure I could wrestle you a cab.”

Cat cut her eyes up then, raising a high eyebrow.

“To go check on her.”

Cat inclined her head slightly, eyeing her niece. “It’s almost midnight.”

“Which, ironically was about the same time I was a nuisance last time.”

“You were not a nuisance Evangelena, you just failed to tell me your arrival time in corresponding West Coast time zones.”

“True, but I did give you the flight information, I have a feeling you might’ve been too distracted that entire day to recall it. That or your assistant mentioned it and somehow-”

“I am not going to go and check on her, again.” Cat admonished. It was Lena’s turn to tip her head and eye her aunt with a slow, progressive grin.

“Again?”

“Nor do I appreciate your insinuating tone.” Cat scoffed, flinging the last of the whiskey in her glass back and swallowing with the sparsest wince.

“Oohoho! Now Aunt Kitty, don't deny it. I know you like her.”

“Of course I like her, she's the best thing for Carter since-”

“Nooo, you -like- like her.”

“Like like. Wow is that what they're calling it these days?”

“So you admit it?” Lena sat forward on the edge of her chair then, watching her Aunt thoughtfully.

“I admit nothing.”

“I saw how you looked at her. I was in her office all day.”

“When?”

“When she brought you your ' _special_ ' coffee.”

“That's because I needed coffee.”

“That's one hell of a look for coffee Aunt Kitty. Though I have to say the way you were handling Supergirl, and that preview article you wrote.” Lena whistled low. "I mean both women in your building at the same-

“Stop.”

Lena grinned knowingly. “Are you blushing?”

“No, it's called alcohol. Another reason why-”

“You should go check on her, lower inhibitions.”

“It's why I shouldn't. If she is sick and her sister is at work- just, no. It's late I have enough to deal with still before tomorrow.”

“Afraid you might stay over?”

“Evangelena!”

“To take care of her, geeze. What, you afraid of the scandal?”

“I make scandals not the other way around.”

"Right. And if she is sick and alone then what?”

“She's an adult, and quite capable I'm sure.”

“Chicken"

“What happened to that sweet innocent niece of mine I remember from the weekend?”

“It's called alcohol.”

“Go to bed.”

Lena actually giggled, stretching out her back. “Only because this chair is getting too comfortable not because you told me to.”

“Whatever helps you sleep Evangelena.”

Lena stood, stretching languidly before stepping over to her Aunt’s chair, wrapping her up without warning and hugging her a little too tight. She felt Cat stiffen for only a moment before the gesture was returned with equal warmth.

“Goodnight Aunt Kitty.”


	35. Of Kryptonite and Solitude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex discovers an unexpected truth while Kara tries to make sense of the truths she's been given

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you ChupeyDupey for the beta! You're amazing.
> 
> Some angst but not like you think...or maybe it is...

**_Earlier at the D.E.O._ **

 

“So what you’re saying-”

“I’m saying this can kill your sister and Astra, maybe even other aliens, but certainly Kryptonians,” Eliza said honestly.  The mother and daughter pair were side by side in Eliza’s lab, while Astra remained in a far corner observing silently. Set between the two on a small table was a lead box, the topic of their discussion tucked away inside it.  

“However, it shows no sign of reaction in humans, at least with minimal exposure.” She glanced toward Astra then, watching her tip her head in curiosity. “Not even in Winn,” Eliza answered causing Alex to look between the two women a moment in confusion, figuring she would ask about that in a minute or two.   

“It _is_ an irradiated object, exposure over time or in larger quantities could result in any number of abnormalities to humans, Martians, anyone really. As is the nature of anything that exhibits a kind of radioactive property.”

Alex sat down on a tall stool, letting out an audible exhale with a puff of her cheeks. “It’s just a piece of space rock. Meteorites don’t just kill people unless they fall on you out of the sky. Or maybe if I throw it and get really lucky. Outside of those examples, it seems no different than if I ran across any other kind of tektite on the ground.”

Astra moved then, arms uncrossing from her chest as she made her way over to the two women, already reaching for the box before Eliza stepped between it and the Kryptonian.

“No.”

Astra eyed the woman with a tilt of her head, while Alex straightened with the sudden power display between the two.

“ _Alexandra is a see it to believe it kind of person, as you well know, she needs-”_

“Astra, continuous exposure to this-”

“ _Kryptonite_.” Astra allowed as her features leveled out.  The word itself caused Eliza to raise a brow, while Alex remained silent.

“Interesting choice.”

“ _It is where it originates and it is a meteor.  Simple and to the point. Just as it needs to be.  She needs to understand that it is not just a geological projectile no different than your limestone or quartz formations.”_

Eliza let out a slow exhale through her nose, reaching behind herself and pulling the lead box between them before looking over to her daughter. Alex had the sense enough to actually look apprehensive in spite of her curiosity on the matter.  It just seemed a little overdramatic to say whatever rock was in the box was so dangerous as to be capable of causing the death of someone like her sister or Astra. It bordered on absurd, especially considering their powers and capabilities.

What she hadn’t counted on was for her mother to hand the lockbox to her, feeling the weight of the leaden thing stir an almost instinctual feeling of dread deep within her gut. Her fingertips felt detached as if the nerves feeding sensation to them had been severed as she looked up from it to the other two questioningly.

“I will need to help her,” Eliza said plainly, causing that sensation low in Alex’s gut to freeze over while digging in deeper.  Astra stared at Eliza with that statement, already preparing herself for what was about to happen before she turned her attention to Alex and gave a small nod.

Alex chewed on her bottom lip a minute, her fingers already starting to tremble in their numbness as she thumbed open the latch. Eliza stepped closer to Astra then while the other woman kept her eyes on the box, waiting, muscles slowly flexing as she increased her oxygen intake in a controlled manner.

The instant Alex opened the container in such close proximity it took everything in Astra not to collapse to the ground.  Her characteristic stoicism was reduced to a sharp, audible gasp as Eliza grabbed hold of her only to go to the floor with the woman on the rise of another painful groan.  Alex was up in an instant, knocking the stool over and already slamming the thing shut with a resounding crack of noise.

“ _Open it back up, Brave One,”_ Astra growled, sitting back on her heels as Eliza set a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“I-what? No! I-”

“Open the box, Alexandra. You're going to have to know the signs, in case you're around Kara without the rest of us.”

Alex swallowed hard, the reality of this thing chilling her to the bone. The both of them were right if someone like the Luthor’s had this and could get close to Kara, especially being related to Cat what with Kara's own renouncement of the D.E.O. She might be the only one around her sister if she were exposed.

“I'm sorry.” She uttered, looking at the box trying to will the threat of tears in her eyes away before taking a deep breath and exposing the Kryptonite to the room once more.

Astra let out a sickening grunt of a sound, every vein in the exposure of her skin glowing as green as the stone in Alex's possession. Eliza gathered her hands within her own, squeezing tightly as the woman writhed and growled like a wounded animal.

“ _Y-you have… to… show her...Eliza._ ” Astra winced around another growl, her eyes turning that same bright, otherworldly green. Revealing her as the alien she really was in that moment.  Eliza gave Astra a pointed look, flexing her jaw as she looked over at Alex then next to her on the table.

“ _Show her!_ ” Astra barked, struggling for another breath, hands shaking with the effort to hold onto Eliza’s before the woman moved.  Alex wavered closer, her grip on the box tightening for fear she might drop it only to freeze completely when her mother grabbed a scalpel from a nearby tray.

“What’re you doing?!”  

“Don’t move,” Eliza commanded in an agitated tone, prying apart the sealed plastic wrapping and removing the safety cap from the blade hastily.  She grabbed for Astra’s hand without a fight, prying her fingers back, digging into her palm with a single swipe and another shout of pain from the Kryptonian.

At first, nothing happened and Alex almost breathed a sigh of relief.  Almost. Until the first beads of red began to surface. Astra stretched her fingers wide, forcing those beads into a river that rapidly coated over the green pulsing through her veins. Alex closed the box with a snap, locking it shut and leaving it on the table as she grabbed gauze and a bottle of clear fluid before immediately dropping down beside Astra.

Without so much as a word her training kicked in and Astra’s hand was within her grasp without regard to herself. She upended the bottle, flushing Astra’s palm before tearing open the gauze pack with her teeth and free hand.  The Kryptonian was a sweaty, bloody mess, hair sticking to her face and neck while red colored the floor.

“Alex..” Eliza started, looking back to Astra while her daughter operated on a kind of autopilot.  Astra shook her head slightly mouthing the word wait. Alex wrapped the other woman’s hand tightly, looping the material over and over before pressing down into the center of Astra’s palm.

Eliza pushed to a stand, taking the stool along with her and setting it back in place as she watched the two and waited.

 _“Alexandra,”_ Astra spoke softly, her fingers curling around the pressure of Alex’s hand.

“I can suture it, the head of plastics at the hospital said I’m the only one who understands how to knot without leaving-”

“ _Scars let us know we are alive because we have healed.”_ Astra interrupted, easing Alex’s grip on her away, splitting the seam of the gauze like tissue paper and wiping away at whatever remnant was left of her blood across her palm, showing no injury. “ _Even if all some of us have are the memories of them anymore.”_

Alex grabbed her hand, pressing into her palm, stretching and pulling at the skin and finding only the barest hint of white that, aside from its perfect line, would otherwise blend in with the lifelines of Astra’s natural skin tone.  She startled slightly as Astra’s other hand touched the side of her face, tears falling from her lashes as the two stared at one another.

“We have to stop them.” Alex uttered, swallowing hard and clearing her face of its wetness before sitting back and using the momentum to stand as she turned to look at her mother.  Her expression so resolute it nearly made Eliza smile. Astra stood a moment after, wavering slightly and using the table nearby to steady herself, looking up at the two women as they shifted their attention to her.

“ _It takes a few moments to recover… even from a piece that small.”_ Astra straightened to her usual stature with a deep breath, grounding herself with the following exhale. “ _They will certainly have bigger if the descriptions from the museums are any indicator.”_

“Radiation... You said it’s irradiated, there has to be a way to shield that or block it.  Even if it’s not the same as radiation for say a human, it’s bound to have cosmic radioactive properties as well as the irradiation from … it’s origin.” Alex stepped aside from the pair, already starting to pace. “We shield astronauts from it when they’re up in space..” Alex shook her head.

“No no, that's too broad for now…”

Astra glanced over at Eliza with a raised brow before the woman shook her head a bit, putting a finger to her lips to make sure the Kryptonian stayed quiet.  Astra gave a small nod before turning her focus back to Alex as she paced about, gesticulating with her hands and dissolving into a complete rundown of human interactions to radiation therapies with cancers from the medical personnel side, bibs and blockers, lead sheets and other elements for the prevention of cell contamination during x-rays and other procedures.

The use of radioprotectors in trial studies, dosimeters that the radiology techs had to wear, potassium iodide tablets they kept in the first aid kits, and everything from passive shielding to an article she had read about active radiation shielding and the superconducting of magnets but that size was too much of a factor to consider building a workable prototype that wasn’t the width of a few city blocks.

“If we can determine the internal and external dosimetry-” Alex stopped abruptly turning to the other two in the room, her excited expression towards this new puzzle falling considerably.

“ _What is wrong Alexandra?”_ Astra straightened upon seeing the other woman's defeatist posture.

“We.. we'd have to run tests and I don't, I can't expose you to that again, over and-”

“What if I said we already had the levels.” Eliza interrupted, stealing Alex’s breath away as her eyes jumped between the two, realization seeping into her mind.

“Wh...why would you...” Her expression was at best distraught, stepping closer and feeling that burn of anger color her chest from the inside out again. Her breathing increased in the heartbeats that it took for either woman to look even minimally admonished at the implication. “Were you going to tell me, or anyone? Or just wait-”

“Alex” Eliza started.

“No. This is the same shit Kara was talking about.” She looked to Astra. “The same thing you just told me none of us were going to do anymore.”

“Alex, calm down. Of course we were going to tell you.” Eliza clarified. “We had to be sure-”

“Sure? Sure?!”  Alex laughed in a mockish, bitter tone, hands running through her hair to push it out of her face. “You’ve been exposing yourself repeatedly to radiation from your own corpse of a planet without knowing what else it could be doing to you.” She glared at Astra before turning on her mother. “And you’ve been helping. Does Hank know? Does Winn? Does anyone else or are you not doing the same thing as Hank, trying to protect Kara or whatever reason-”

“If what we’re trying to fabricate didn’t work, there’s no sense in building a false sense of hope after everything else. That’s why we had to be sure before now.”

Alex nodded as she listened to the feeble explanations, hands inverted on her hips as she took another step or two before cutting her eyes to the pair. “I’m sure I’m with Kara on this one, I don’t want anything to do with this place either, not like this.” She stepped closer to Astra.  

“You have no idea what that stuff can really do to you, what it may already have done.  You’re Kara’s only living, tangible family on this planet outside of her cousin. What you're doing is about as smart as my walking into a damned particle accelerator before they fire it!”  Alex looked over at her mother then, her anger spiking and coloring her throat and cheeks in the process.

“And you’re the one pulling the trigger.”  Alex moved away from them then, despite her mother’s protests and Astra’s initial step forward to stop her.

Eliza swore, scrunching her features between her fingers with a small growl of frustration before shoving at the table beside her only to have Aastra catch it before it flipped.  Eliza cut her eyes to the woman then, jaw shifting, the satisfaction of the resulting noise of her actions never making itself known.

“I needed that to fall…” Eliza responded, to which Astra looked at the table still in her grasp and simply let it go with a small push, banging the thing into the floor and scattering instruments and tools into a cacophony of metal and destruction between them.

Eliza couldn’t help but laugh, breathless and empty in its range, before sitting back on the stool she had occupied. She recognized Alex's outburst for what it was, a petulant temper tantrum that was masquerading around while something much deeper, much more viable than anger could ever hope to be pulled the strings behind her daughter's actions. She drew in a heavy breath, searching the space between them before conceding to an internal argument in her mind.

“You… should go after her. Before she gets lost, or hurt.”

Astra straightened further when Eliza looked up at her with a knowing stare.

_“That- you should- she-”_

“Astra, I’m not blind.” _Although you might be,_ she thought. “Go. I.. need to explain all this to Hank and the others.”

“ _Eliza I did not intend-”_

“It will buy you some time before he comes looking for you afterward.”  Eliza pressed again, praying she didn't regret this. Astra studied the other woman cautiously before taking a slow step back.

“Go already!” Astra didn't need any other encouragement, turning and stepping into the hall nearly running into Hank.

“ _Eliza needs to talk with you.”_ Was her only apology as she maneuvered around him and cut down another hallway.

Looking at the floor he couldn't help but furrow his brow, following the trail of various items and the ruined table and the smattering of diluted blood before ending on Eliza. “Something you need to tell me?”

Eliza sighed openly, taking off her lab coat and balling it up before tossing it to a nearby counter. “You should sit down.”

Alex turned down another hallway, the concrete and nondescript doors doing very little to aid in her navigation save for the decreasing numbers beside each one. She turned another corner after a few steps, realizing her anger was partly responsible for her lack of correct trajectory. Seeing armed agents at the end of the pathway caused her to turn abruptly and collide with the solid wall of Astra's body.

“Get out of my way you big tree.” She spat, only to have Astra step aside and block her exit. “Don't make me scream,” Alex warned not daring to look up as she pushed at the taller woman.

“ _Do you desire to?”_

 _“_ Yes.”

“ _Will it alleviate your anger?”_

“Maybe.”

Astra gestured for her to go ahead causing Alex to shift her jaw before shoving at Astra again. This time Astra moved aside with the motion before turning to follow.

“ _Left.”_

Alex went right, ending at another intersection.

 _“Left,”_ Astra stated, causing Alex to go straight ahead.

“ _Right”_

Alex gritted her teeth, turning left and seeing a kind of guarded checkpoint before turning around completely, ignoring Astra as she passed her. When Astra didn't interject at the next intersection she continued.

“ _Left.”_

Alex clenched a fist, taking the turn, and another, then another without a word until she rounded a final corner via Astra's infuriating instruction as the hallway opened up to some kind of massive deployment garage.

 _“On the end, to the right_.”

“Agent Vasquez, we have movement on the garage level.”

The woman looked up, seeing Alex followed by Astra a few steps behind. Given there was no escorting agent, she assumed Astra had offered to serve as such. There had been no alarms, lockdown or detainment requests for either woman and as a result, she gave the authorization to open vehicle bay one.

Alex startled with the sound of the heavy chain signaling a large steel door to lift and reveal what looked like an exit ramp.

“ _Y_ _ou should not pilot this way.”_

Alex straddled her bike, adjusting to the seat as she unhooked the helmet from the mag-lock on the side and set it on the gas tank as she undid the straps and checked it over. She tugged on her helmet to hide her eyes, flicking on her lights and kicked away the stand with her heel as she righted the bike before turning the key and revving the engine.

“Drive. The word is drive. And I'm fine, driven in worse. Thank you for your concern but I'm leaving now.”

Astra moved aside, hooking her fingers under the frame just as Alex shifted gears, picking the thing up enough to cause the tire to spin mercilessly. When Alex didn't go anywhere she released the throttle, jumping off and again pushed at the Kryptonian

“Let go!”

 _“I am not going to let you leave like this_.” Astra set the bike down but kept it upright to prevent it from pitching to the concrete. Alex pried off her helmet, slamming it down on the seat and kicking out the stand again, once under the management of its own weight Astra released the vehicle.

“You’re not going to let me? Oh, that’s rich, you’re the one who’s made me like this!” Alex argued, throwing her hands up. “What do you care anyway? My driving away angry is nothing in comparison to you dying a little bit over and -over- again just to be sure you don’t give anyone false hope or-”

“ _You are behaving-”_

“Like what Astra?”

“ _As if there is no forgiveness to be given_.”

All of the anger drained away with that statement, leaving behind a deeper, more intense cause to Alex’s behavior.  Astra watched Alex’s aura writhe and flare, feeling her chest tighten with each breath as the woman wavered closer. Alex shifted her jaw, squaring herself up internally and glaring up at the Kryptonian, desperately grasping back at the last vestiges of her anger before jabbing a finger into her chest

“You... have to forgive yourself before others can even hope to.” Astra snatched her by the wrist before she could at stab her again, Alex’s instinctual struggle backward only pulling them closer until Astra grabbed her jacket and hauled her forward.

Any further argument Alex had died in Astra’s throat. Alex barely touched the ground and as soon as she fisted her hands around the other woman’s shirt they were apart again. Astra looked beside herself, her grip easing slowly until Alex was on solid footing.  

All Alex could hear was the thunder of blood in her ears while Astra’s gaze seemed focused somewhere near her throat.  Two breaths passed, then three before Alex pushed up and forward, Astra's fingertips stopping her as they flexed gently along the line of her jaw. They breathed one another in for a passing moment before Alex leaned forward again, their lips barely touching as Astra startled away with a tilt of her chin.

“Alexandra...” Astra whispered in a broken breath, her bottom lip quivering just out of reach.  She wavered forward head turning ever so, eyes lifting up only once then away again. Alex leaned forward, eyes open as she caught Astra's mouth with a whisper of a kiss before the woman took a full step back forcing Alex to realign her balance.

“Am I really so bad…?”

Astra had a hand pressed against her own solar plexus, the other coming up between them as Alex stepped forward after her while the Kryptonian never looked up with Alex’s question despite the slight shake of her head. Alex swallowed audibly, hands curling at her sides as she bit her bottom lip to keep from saying anything more with a short series of nods.

By the time Astra looked up Alex was shifting into gear and before she could even think to say anything or move to stop her there was nothing left but tire tracks on the cold concrete.

 

**\-------**

 

Kara sat down with a heavy exhale in the dark of her apartment.  She half expected someone to be waiting for her; her sister, her Aunt, hell even Hank or Diana considering how she had left things.  Then again it was rather late considering, and if her cell phone was any indication it wasn’t as if people hadn’t tried to get a hold of her. When she hadn’t replied, she supposed they had stopped trying.  

Although given how she had burst out of the apartment with Alex left behind, she had a feeling Astra had already been informed as to where she might have gone. Which in turn meant the others most likely knew she would be unavailable until such time as when she determined that she wasn’t. Thoughts of her sister twisted in her mind. Her conversation with her mother had shown her just how much a part Alex had played, not just in saving Alura, but perhaps saving Astra at the same time.  

When she thought about her sister and the lengths she had gone to in that effort alone she couldn’t help but allow the slight smile that touched her lips then.  Alex was headstrong and determined. Kara had to wonder if after Astra had just hinted at needing help Alex had just taken over the situation entirely.

She rubbed at her face running over the words her sister had used, _Astra said_ and _saving a life_. A part of her had tried to blame her aunt for the whole situation. Was Astra just another person in a long line trying to protect her? Another person trying to keep her from some kind of reality for fear of her turning out like them most likely.  

Her mother had been right.Iif she wanted the truth, she couldn’t shy away from intricate details.  Part of that picture, as she had come to understand, was a kind of survivor’s guilt coupled with a need to make up for past wrongs, for lost time, for not protecting Kara when she was younger.  

People like Astra, even Hank, had to grow up, just as Kara had.  They had to accept a new world, a new kind of order and circumstance. They also had to accept that Kara herself wasn’t some child, despite what their memories or experiences wanted to argue otherwise.  Maybe that was why it was easier to forgive Astra and Alex than it felt like she could Hank.

He had been here on Earth even before her, nearly five times over. Then again she had to wonder if after the first hundred years, would she even be as put together as he could be at times. Or what she might do should someone come along after so much isolation and past failures, churning up thoughts and feelings of a life lost so long ago.   

At least in Astra’s case, she was still a fledgling newcomer in her own way. Having gone to sleep while Kara was only twelve and waking up the next minute to an adult version of her niece, while still feeling so obligated towards that child she knew before. It wasn’t a surprise that Astra would stumble a bit in that arena.  

Of course, she mused, it also made it all the more obvious as to how and why Astra and Hank got along at all when one considered the two of the individually.  She guessed having shared experiences, despite the light years between them, could do that to people. From what Kara had understood of him he was a kind of police officer on his planet. Not a menial position certainly but not exactly his people’s overall caretaker.  Both of them had lost their whole worlds. Hank had failed his children as their father, Astra had failed the entirety of her people as their General.

While Hank had lost his own children, somehow the universe had seen to it that he should get tangled up with her Uncle so many decades later, as a kind of secret caretaker to her and Clark as if to make up for the loss somehow.  Hank had been able to fill the role in Kara’s life that Astra had hoped to, had the fates aligned in her favor instead of where they had left her.

Kara sent out a quiet prayer to Rao. Hoping that he had some kind of plan beyond some of the darker things she herself had entertained. She had no disillusions her Aunt Astra had considered far worse for those that had wronged her. Including Rao.  WHatever the universe had in store for her Aunt if it had allowed Hank that kind of apology, however obscure, she could only fathom what might present itself to Astra in kind.

Then again, perhaps the universe had already offered that up to her Aunt.  Kara was alive, Clark was alive, even Alura was alive; lost somewhere in the universe between Krypton and Earth but alive. There was a hope there, however rare with that alone.  Despite her initial experiences, Astra was in safe company now and proving every day how much of an asset she could be.

In contrast Kara could only imagine what Hank would do were members of his own family alive instead of the contrary.  It explained some of his reasoning, but not enough to allow Kara to consider going back to the D.E.O. in any kind of immediate future scenario she ran in her mind.  There were so many unanswered questions concerning the director and his organization. Kara wasn’t sure if she would get the Rao’s honest answer from him or anyone else loyal to him. Not yet anyway; life debt notwithstanding.

Lillian Luthor was still Cat’s sister, which only complicated so many more things. Now she felt as if she were walking on a razor’s edge with that knowledge. She had to admit a very small part of her didn’t blame Hank for keeping that from her, but even that was still very minimal.  Of course, she wondered how differently she might have behaved had she known that little factoid before.

Her mind shifted again with that thought, twisting her insides as she glanced out her window over at the cityscape and the night surrounding it.  What she felt the worst about was having left Carter today. Not that she didn’t feel Lena was capable of watching him, quite the contrary in fact. She had never just left him, not for the near whole of a day without explanation. Which only stirred more thoughts concerning the other parts of herself that she kept hidden from him and especially his mother.  

Hands filtered through her hair, pulling it away from her face as she leaned forward on the edge of her bed, letting out a deep breath in an attempt to ground herself and focus her thoughts. The more she thought about it, what she really felt the worst about was Cat.  The way she had left her balcony as Supergirl, coupled with how she hadn’t even bothered to even leave a message or something about why she wouldn’t be there waiting when Cat came home from work.

She drew in a deeper breath letting that gentle concept trickle through her; Cat coming home to her. It made her heart ache and her head hurt all at the same time. Especially now with what she knew about Lillian and her connection to Cat herself. It almost felt as if that possibility, however fleeting or fantastical had slipped through her grasp with that development.

It would have only been a matter of time anyway, she thought, if not the Luthor’s someone else would eventually make an enemy of her and try to focus on anyone she interacted with as her caped self. With a small groan she laid back on the bed with a small bounce, staring up at the ceiling with a slight shake of her head.

Kara closed her eyes for a moment, tuning her hearing to a particular frequency, a single undulation of a heartbeat amongst thousands. She slowly filtered out all surrounding noises in an effort to locate it before the knock on her door, however gentle reverberated through her brain like a thunderclap.

She was up in an instant, not bothering with looking through the door. She knew it could only be Hank or Diana, most likely the latter, who might even consider venturing out to find her and try to talk with her.  She unlocked the door and pulled it aside, the words she had prepared to toss out with the full intention of shutting the door right behind them nearly choking her as the woman standing in front of her now came into perfect, unadulterated clarity.


	36. Safe is the Most Dangerous Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Kara navigate each other and what dangers lie in the safety of one another

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rate(ing)s have gone up...
> 
> Again many thanks to CupeyDupey for the betas I figure after 700 pages this should have been a given. Whoopsie!
> 
> Some accompaniment if you so choose...
> 
> [ Amber Run - I Found, ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbSZhGONRBg)[ Sleeping at Last - As Long As You Love Me Cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czghb8RB-eE), and one of my kind of forever SuperCat Songs [ Ursine Vulpine ft Annaca - Wicked Game Cover ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YrA9-djXHg)

“Should you be up?” Cat’s voice was quiet, soft, even tender despite her expression which was doing its best to appear aloof even if Kara could hear her heartbeat pounding away and see her aura arc like a Tesla coil.

"Cat? What’re-”

Cat felt her own breath catch, searching over Kara's features, slowly registering that she was without her glasses and how blue her eyes were, especially in the dark, before Kara dropped her chin sending her hair in a curtain across her features.

“Lena and Carter said you were sick.”

“I... was... I mean, I felt-”

“So, you’re fine.”

Kara wasn’t sure if she should nod or shake her head as she lifted her features back up. She wasn’t fine. She was the farthest thing from fine. Cat being here on her doorstep, checking on her well-being at nearly one o’clock in the morning after everything that had happened was doing very little to sway her in the direction of fine.

“I .. -”

“I should go, I’ll-”

“Please,” Kara found herself saying before she could agree to anything Cat might be attempting to utilize as an excuse not to stay.  “...come in.”

Cat bit her bottom lip, any remnant of whiskey in her system gone in a burst of sobering adrenaline with the underlying quiver in Kara's voice. “Are you-”

“No one else is here.” Kara wasn't sure why she offered that up. When she saw Cat hesitate further she wondered if she should have said anything at all. “You came all this way, even if it's just for a few minutes.”

Cat stepped closer. Kara failed to move until Cat reached out and touched her near her hip, causing the woman to jump involuntarily. Kara apologized lamely, stepping aside before closing the door behind them as Cat ventured deeper into her apartment, looking heavenward with a silent prayer.

“Were you asleep?” Cat questioned almost apologetically as she took in the darkness of the apartment. The surrounding city lights filtered in enough for the two of them to see as if surrounded by stars.

“No,” Kara said, snagging a pair of her glasses from the nearby side table and putting them on hastily.

Cat walked into the small area of Kara's kitchen. Despite the handful of times she had made it this far, even in the dim light, she knew the basic layout of her surroundings. She passed the fridge and set the small bag Kara hadn't even realized Cat had with her on the counter.  “I… I brought you soup, that's what you're supposed to do. I think.”

Kara stepped closer and closer, watching Cat pick at the bag while keeping her back to the room and its only other occupant.

“You have to stop doing this,” Kara whispered. Wanting to come up behind the other woman and wrap her up but instead occupied the space just opposite her, pressing her back into the island. Her mind instantly reminding her of the last time they were like this which already felt an eternity ago. How even then she had wanted to reach out to Cat, but certainly not with the depth and intensity she felt towards the other woman now.

Cat's shoulders fell. She could have sworn Kara had been right behind her. She felt like the ghost of her body was a breath away. At Kara's words she chastised herself internally, she was supposed to be here to check in on the other woman. She had meant to offer some kind of support for her being under the weather, not think about her eyes and why they stirred such a salaciously rooted heat into a frenzied whirlpool of sensation throughout her body.

“I- I thought you were sick. I should have called, but then I thought-”

“I meant come here, like this, with this wonderful intention. Making me almost wish I was...” She let her words drift as she took in the shape of Cat's body in the dim reflection of her city through the windows behind them. “I feel like I'm taking advantage of you somehow.”

“Taking advantage of me?”

Kara swallowed hard, seeing Cat's features from over her shoulder and nodded. “I-”

“How? You haven't done anything.”

Kara searched the air, remembering that moment on her balcony days ago, comparing it with the memory of Valentine's Day only to have her memory jolt itself further back. To when they were in Cat’s hallway, the night Supergirl had rescued her from the helicopter but Kara had helped her heal.  How good Cat had felt in her arms, against her body, invading her mouth and marking her until-

“No, but you came here believing I wasn’t well-”

“Did you lie?”

“No. I did feel sick, but it wasn’t anything I ate.”

Cat turned completely, setting her hands on the counter edge on either side of her own hips as she back pressed into its surface. She felt her heart seize up in her throat at the citylight corona that surrounded Kara's body. Her mind overlaying the sight with the one she had earlier today of Supergirl before it shouted at the universe internally to stop whatever it was trying to do to her thoughts and feelings.

“T-then,” Cat cleared her throat, pushing the rasp away. “What-”

"I… I want to taste you.” Kara let out breathlessly, her mind catching up to her mouth and the faint whine of a sound coming from Cat's direction. “I-mean..I..barely had the... that night, in the hall.” Kara wanted to slap herself into coherency, closing her eyes and dropping her head in a kind of defeatist manner.  “The other night, on your balcony, I thought I would before-”

Cat eased closer watching Kara struggle with her words, or air, she wasn’t quite sure which.

“I wanted…. So much in that moment Cat. Then and other times but-” Kara sucked in a deep breath, “The problem I have with you…” She started carefully, causing Cat to raise a brow but not stop her movements.

“We have problems?” She whispered, watching Kara's body register her nearness before those blue eyes popped open to confirm it.

Kara nodded, looking anywhere but Cat’s features. “Is, that, it… you, felt so good, however fleeting a reference I have...”

Cat nodded slightly, watching Kara’s fingers flex firmly around the countertop behind her back as she continued to close the distance between them. “It felt safe.”

“Safe.” Kara whispered as the heat from Cat’s body radiated towards her dangerously.

“This, doesn’t feel safe.” Kara admitted, eyes lifting as she watched Cat linger only to straighten with Kara as she pushed off the counter unexpectedly. It was almost like a reflex and given the air of uncertainty that overcame Kara's expression Cat realized she was the direct cause of it. Which only made her lungs burn in her attempts to gather more oxygen as if it was being sucked out of the spaces between them.

“What does it-”

“This feels so dangerous.” Kara whispered, eyes tracking every curve and line of Cat's face while her mind screamed not to look at her mouth.

“I like your kind of dangerous.” Cat responded, seeing Kara's eyes flicker to her mouth as she spoke and when they lingered, Cat wet them with the edge of her tongue.

“Cat,” Kara was actually begging in her whisper. “This feels like, no going back, ruin you kind of dangerous...

Cat swallowed hard, her fingers curling into her palms as she stood a few deep breaths away. Kara was admitting something to her that she wasn't sure she could even admit to herself, much less  to the woman in front of her just yet. Once she dared to consider the alternative and suddenly understood so many minute things that collapsed into place around the woman in front of her, she felt dizzy with the onslaught of them all. Her lashes fluttered, sending a burning trail of wetness down one cheek as she took another step forward.

“Kara.” Cat's voice was a broken warning of a sound. “I want that kind of dangerous with you.”

Before the words had settled between them the two were in motion simultaneously.

Cat stole her glasses away with a speed Kara didn't know the woman possessed before grabbing the side of her neck and around her side. She pitched her whole body weight into Kara's arms as Kara cradled her head, kneading through the hair at her neck as her other hand fit around Cat's ribs Kara pulled her closer as their mouths collided.

Cat’s shoulders rose high as she pulled herself up and Kara closer. Their noses brushed roughly as Kara turned her head, holding Cat up before driving her hips towards her in an attempt to keep the other woman elevated while her torso rolled downward with the dip in Cat's shoulder .

Kara dove after Cat’s mouth, never breaking contact as she invaded her like a foreign nation and nearly took the other woman off her feet completely. She felt Cat's hands paw at her, drawing her own body up and flush against the taller of the two as she opened herself up to the hungry caresses of Kara’s tongue against her own.

Kara fanned her hand low across Cat’s back, holding their bodies together as all of her senses were overrun with the other woman.  She tasted the smoky sweetness of distinguished whiskey; filled her lungs with the heady aroma of soap spiced with the ardor of her arousal.  She relished in the rasp of air Cat pulled into her body when her hand fisted around Kara’s shirt near her shoulder.

Cat flexed her fingers around Kara’s neck, keeping her in place as best as she was able while not succumbing to the lightheaded feeling firing across her nerves. She pushed up on the balls of her feet, barely touching the ground in Kara’s arms as she heard the woman pant for air around their kiss.  She answered in kind, the edges of her whimper lost somewhere within Kara’s throat when she felt them turn under the other woman’s surprising strength while she held on. Kissing Kara was like kissing the open sky, tempered by a feeling of unbridled power that made her mind flicker. Kara was suntouched and windswept with no equal to those measures, triggering her heart to thunder hard enough to break a rib when she felt weightless for an untold second, before gravity settled beneath her again.

Legs dug into Kara’s sides, hands tangling in her hair as she bent over enough to maintain their contact. They stole gasps of oxygen as they both struggled to find a better angle; tugging and tasting one another in a frisson of movement between them until Cat entwined Kara’s hair in her hands and bent her back to the point of exposing her throat in order to ravage her mouth thoroughly.

Kara felt like she was falling and flying in the same instant. Her hips thumped into the edge of the counter soundly as Cat’s thighs kneaded at her sides from her new position on the countertop.  Kara’s arms aligned with Cat’s body to give her some sense of balance as the woman held her in place by the anchor of her hair. Kara’s fingers eased into the channels of the other womans ribs; thumbs extending back to brush over the soft, pliant curves just under her arms, earning her a wanton bite of Cat’s teeth against her bottom lip as her reward.

Cat dug her heels into the back of Kara’s thighs, pulling hard and forcing the pair of them together with a small grunt on Kara’s behalf.  Her hands dipped inward, surrounding Cat’s waist and pulling her impossibly closer as she arched her torso into the other woman, pulling her own sharp gasp out of Cat with the friction of their collision.

Kara nosed at the line of Cat’s throat, tasting her skin and teasing each exhale across the wet surface as she pressed the fringes of her shirt apart. The edge of her tongue fell into the visible dip in between her neck and collarbones, feeling it quake and deepen with Cat’s ensuing breath.  Her hands traveled further down, until she felt the tops of Cat’s legs, turning her touch so that her thumbs rubbed over the round of bone there between them and down further into the bend of the woman’s legs, kneading firmly provoking Cat to moan against her temple.

Cat felt a quiver beneath her navel.A kind of intractable ache, low, deep and fluid washed over her body in a kind of buoyant, low-rolling wave.  Kara’s hands moved behind her then, warming her skin where the counter had chilled it before. The kneading pressure of her fingers spread that fluidity in a quivering, pervasive burn across her body.  Kara panted against her skin, mouth teasing over her throat, teeth biting across the curve of her chin with a gentle pressure. She dug her hips into the counter, dragging Cat almost completely from its surface and against her body. The fire made liquid spreading against her abdomen through their clothes from her actions evoking a salacious breath of a laugh up from her chest.

Cat wrapped her arms under Kara’s own, holding onto her shoulders for some kind of leverage as she rolled her hips forward and down against the plain of the other woman's stomach. Her whole body seemed to vibrate to the frequency of Kara’s own and she swore she could hear both of their hearts in her ears amidst the growing din of fervent whimpers that escaped the both of them.

Kara felt the convulsion of wings low against her spine, spreading up and out and down with an undeniable heat as Cat clung to her. Cat’s hand was at the side of her face suddenly, pulling her attention up until their foreheads pressed together, nearly dropping Kara to her knees with the connection as those breathlessly demanding little murmurs of pleasure spilling over Cat’s lips halted with equal astonishment.

Cat’s eyes went wide on the verge of disbelief, that resolute ache that had built within her flung her apart, twisting across her features with a furrow of her brow as her whole body seized and clenched around Kara’s own; pitching them further off balance as she felt Kara’s legs falter.  That same feeling of weightlessness from before filled her and only added fuel to the fire spreading across her nerves that ricocheted across a fine line of pleasure and pain when the ground met them.

Kara grimaced, more for Cat than herself, but never looked away as her body clenched around itself, robbing her of breath as she heard Cat say her name and break apart in her arms. The noise she made was undignified at best; their bodies fitting roughly against one another as they hit the ground despite Kara’s last second attempt to float, only to feel as if her powers had abandoned her.  Her eyes were almost black in the dim light, blown apart as her body jumped and seized against Cat’s full weight still driving down against her.

Cat’s mouth teased over her own, lips feeling as if they were made of embers where they touched and caught, sharing each breath between each other in their tangle of limbs on the floor. Her hands were still holding Kara’s face, knees throbbing from where they had hit, muscles protesting from being deliciously overstretched across Kara’s waist only to groan when she felt the involuntary surge upward of the woman’s hips beneath her.

Kara’s back was pressed into the cabinets, pinned there by Cat’s own body, half sitting and half laid out beneath the other woman.  She bent her legs weakly, knees pressing into Cat’s back as her hands fit firmly around the woman’s sides, encouraging the ebbing roll of her hips to continue.  She pushed her own hips unsteadily off the ground, suspending Cat from the floor with a groan despite being pushed roughly into the wooden doors against her back.   

Cat threaded her fingers into Kara’s hair, lacing them behind her head firmly as she pushed at the haze of her first orgasm in search of another with the other woman’s rolling surge from the ground. Kara reached over her head then, hand banging against the small door with her efforts. Using the new leverage of her legs and position she pushed the both of them off the cabinets with a grunt until she was on her back completely, the slap of Cat’s hands on the floor from the abrupt shift in their position and balance resounding on either side of her head.  

They stayed like that for countless seconds, Kara prone on her back while Cat was on all fours over her. Drinking each other in behind the curtain of Cat’s hair that swept the floor around Kara’s head with each breath she struggled with.  Kara’s eyes searched over Cat’s face, watching her aura writhe and tangle itself into her own. Cat seemed to do the same as if a thousand questions were being answered and another thousand were formulating within her.

Kara thought she saw the barest glimpse of something definitive in those eyes above her breaking through the haze of their ardor, making Kara’s chest hurt, as whatever it was formed behind those eyes with a striking clarity, taking a more solid root inside the other woman and spurring Cat to sit back a bit on the precipice of shock and wonder.

Apprehension stole its way across Kara's mind and chilled her body, causing her to shudder and her eyes to turn glassy, fearful everything was suddenly collapsing. Kara reached up, stilling Cat’s retreat as her fingertips traced the part of her lips. Feeling every pant, every whimper electrically charging her skin, as if she could will the other woman’s life and fervor to chase those darker feelings away.  

Whatever question Kara  silently asked between them was answered by the fluid heat of Cat’s mouth surrounding a single digit with the added vice of her teeth to keep it in place.  Cat watched tears break across the edge’s of Kara’s eyes, disappearing into her hair when she moved sliding a hand beneath Kara’s head and cradling her from the floor.  She kept Kara under her control with the gentle pressure of her teeth as she laid her body flush against the other woman.

With her free hand Kara gathered Cat’s hair, tousling it to one side trailing her thumb across the round of her cheek before Cat bent her head back, releasing her hold on Kara’s skin.  Cat let out a surprised gasp when Kara grabbed her jaw a split second after and pulled her down into a much more anguished kiss.

Cat’s hand fisted in Kara’s hair as she kissed her back, tasting a different asperity of emotion on the back of this kiss than any before it.  She guided Kara’s free arm around her where she felt fingers dig into her hip almost hard enough to bruise, provoking her to thrust her knees firmly into Kara’s ribs and compress their bodies against the ground with an unmistakably protective intent.

Kara nearly choked on the display and sensations consuming her, the sound rupturing through her chest and into the woman surrounding her. Cat pressed a hand between them, fingers straining to flex against the skin there in an all too familiar gesture before she dipped her chin down breaking them apart at a single seam.

“Kara…” Cat’s voice was deep and rich and full of so many different emotions that Kara didn’t know how to respond when she opened her tear soaked eyes. She felt fingers rub at the back of her head and flex over her heart as if to try and ground her in the moment, to assure her she was safe and wanted and loved, until an all too distinct sound of a lock turning shattered their secluded world.

Astra's steps halted, her hand snatching forward and twisting the material of Winn’s shirt silencing him as his fingers curled back from turning on a light as if he'd been burned.

“What?” He whispered in Kryptonese feeling Astra turn the material even harder.

“ _Mating_.”

“Wh-mmmph?!” Winn was pressed back against Astra's solid frame, fighting to breathe around the clamp of her hand.

With another pull and a muffled noise of surprise they were back in the hall, the door shutting as quietly as Astra could manage.  She ushered Winn down the hall and to the next floor, looking up cautiously before letting him go.

“What the hell?!”  She hissed at him to be quiet as the rest of her words caught up to him. “Did you say mating?! Is Alex-”

“ _No_ .” The word was sharp and cut into Winn like a knife to which Astra soothed with an apologetic sigh. “ _Kara has returned_.”

Winn oh’d, then louder with more understanding followed by a final oh that dropped two octaves and sounded minimally offended, causing Astra to chuckle.

“So...back to the D.E.O.? Unless you want to-”

“ _No, we shall procure breakfast, for ourselves and… perhaps Alex.”_  Winn nodded, glancing up at the floor above them himself before gesturing that she lead the way.

Back upstairs Kara was fitting her glasses back on her face while Cat tried to re-button her shirt with fingers that wouldn't cooperate. Her hands were gently ushered aside as Kara stepped into her space, except she undid the button Cat had just fastened.

“What are you doing?” Cat questioned, her fingers curling around Kara's forearms to prevent her from continuing.

“It's nearly three in the morning.”

“Which means-”

Kara moved to the next button, finishing her initial statement. “Which means, if you stay, you'll get more sleep. Lena can handle Carter for one morning, make sure Austin comes prepared with another set of clothes-”

“You've thought of this before haven't you?” Her words were more statement than question as she stepped forward, guiding Kara's hands behind her back.

Kara swallowed visibly, lifting her eyes to Cat's a moment longer than she should have. “A time or two, yes.”

Cat licked her lips cautiously, allowing her body to relax in the other woman's hold as Kara's arms crossed over her back. She reached up between them, fingertips smoothing across the side of Kara’s face affectionately, clearing the remaining trails of tears there.

“I would love nothing more than to stay here and wake up with you” she ran her thumb over Kara's bottom lip, watching those swollen lips part with the barest of quivers.  Kara's response bolstering her next statement. “I don't want interruptions, I want to take time… to wake you up properly. I don't want to be rushed or hurried, committed to a deadline to meet with work instead of…” She let her words drift, thumb fitting below Kara's bottom lip as a single finger curled under her chin and pulled her down in order to kiss her.

Kara whimpered against the capture of Cat's mouth, her breath catching as she felt the barest flicker of Cat's tongue. She pulled the woman into her, holding her low around the waist as she teased back, sucking Cat's bottom lip between the pressure of her teeth and barest flutter of her tongue.  Cat moaned with a lilt of surprise, gently biting after Kara's mouth before pulling back with a small startle triggering her insides.

“I'm sorry did I-”

Cat shushed Kara with another, much more temperate kiss, nudging her nose with her own a second after. “Y-you didn't.” Cat assured, hands petting along Kara's silhouette to soothe her. “Now, be a good girl and call me a cab.” She whispered, testing the praising sentiment, watching Kara's eyes dilate further with it. “Please.”

Kara made an unusual sound in response before she reluctantly stepped away to find her cell phone in order to pre-pay for a cab.

Cat watched her slip around the corner of those windowed doors before trembling fingers reached up to caress over her bottom lip. Her mind had already been racing, despite the more subdued moments that had passed since they got off the floor. She wanted to laugh, to scream and shout and maybe even dance a little, or had, up until a few seconds ago. Now, she wasn't sure what to do, her body and mind fighting against one another.

“Five minutes or less.” Kara said, causing Cat to jump slightly, her internal argument abated for now as Kara's body pressed into her from behind before she had a chance to turn. She pushed aside her thoughts, instead allowing the heat from Kara's frame seep into her, reaching behind herself to knead almost possessively against the back of Kara's neck as she laid her other arm over the one wrapped around her waist.  

Cat stared at their ghostly reflection against the windows, surrounded by stars of their city lights just beyond. She wanted to say something, anything but the words failed to form and when inspiration struck a horn honked below. She made a reluctant groan as Kara stayed wrapped around her and walked them with an endearing awkwardness to the door. Cat pulled her down over her shoulder while stretching back in order to kiss Kara one more time.

Kara fumbled with the door with the second honk, half torn between pressing Cat against it and breaking away. She hugged Cat's body nearly off the ground, pulling on her mouth gently with her teeth before tipping her head back and away. Cat was thankful for the strength of Kara's arms as her legs felt closer to boneless than stable. Kara eased open the door, lips pressing scandalously close to Cat’s ear.

“Now be a good girl, and get some sleep.”

Cat's laugh was deep, almost like a purr, holding unspoken promises as she nudged Kara back with her rear.  “Goodnight Kara...”


	37. The Ties That Bind Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara takes the afternoon off to bond with Alex while Lex gives a belated Valentine's gift to his mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank's again to ChupeyDupey who's taken on the fun role of beta'ing this monster... at least until she says stop ;)
> 
>  
> 
> [ Again another bit of song inspiration, this ALWAYS reminds me of the Luthor's, particularly Lillian although it is very fitting for sir Lex this go around ](http://youtube.com/watch/?v=QscpLg4UUqk)

“What are we doing?” Alex groaned, half exhausted as her sister gave directions to the cab driver.

“You never used to be this cranky when we could get out,” Kara stated, sitting back.  

“You never used to be this bubbly or available this early in the day.”

“Yes well, I asked for the evening off.”  More like convinced, in the corner of Cat’s ensuite just after lunch. She didn’t know if it was being in proximity of one another after the events of the night before or the energized exhaustion Cat seemed to be riding on that made the woman so agreeable. Of course, it could have just been the method with which Kara had made the request itself.

Even now, the memory of Cat’s fingers dragging themselves down her back as she pinned her against the wall, despite her protests that she was working, lingered. The pleas that they hadn’t shut the door, that Karen would only watch Carter while he was down for his nap for so long before the need to finish out Cat’s tasks for her became overwhelming, echoed across the walls.

The day had been full of hidden touches and excuses, made on Cat’s behalf, to slip into Kara’s office for one menial thing after another.  Eventually, Kara took matters into her own hand and in a rather bold display had walked through Cat’s office after procuring Karen to keep an eye on Carter, and directly into her ensuite.  Her only words had been for Cat to meet her right then.

The second Cat had stepped inside Kara had snagged her by the waist, turned her around and pushed her into the far corner before lavishing her with attention. If Cat was a test of self-control Kara had failed miserably.  Not that Kara minded the loss when she ended up being Cat’s spoils of war, but still. Somewhere between half unbuttoning her shirt and mouthing at the back of her neck, she had made the request and-

“Earth to Kara!” Alex snapped at her, stirring Kara from her memories with a bit of a jump. “The look on your face disturbs me.” She held up a hand when Kara took a breath to explain. “I don’t want to know anything about it, I just want to know where we’re going and why.”

“It was brought to my attention that your, our, choice in formal wear is a bit lacking and seeing as we’re honorary guests we need to go shopping.”

“Lacking?” Alex arched a brow. “And what do you mean honorary guests?”

“You can’t wear your leather battle dress thing again like you did at New Years, and I don’t really have anything one could consider formal. As for the honorary guest part, our seating assignments are at Cat’s table. There are going to be some pretty important people around us too so we need to make a good impression.”

Alex groaned, crossing her arms and sulking down into her seat. “You mean we have to play nice and uppity.”

Kara chuckled. “You don’t have to play at anything Alex, but I do know Secretary Marsden is going to be there and I know you’re a fan just like I am.  Plus you never know, there might be other people there that might be beneficial to your career in the long run what with Cat being on the hospital board and all.  I don’t doubt they’re all invited too.”

“Oh, this just gets better and better.  I think I’m coming down with a cold or something.” Alex stated around a forced cough.

“It won’t be that bad.  I promise.”

“How can you even promise that? I’m sure you’re going to be near Cat more than half the time .  Especially with the whole ‘special guest’ she has planned.” Alex actually used air quotes around the phrase before letting out a tired sigh.

“Astra and the others are supposed to be there too-”

“Good for them.” Alex shot back, her face turning into a sour expression. “Besides I thought you were done with them.”

Kara frowned taking in her sister’s aura and tone of voice. “For now, I don’t know what I’m going to do about it yet.   I do know that I can’t just will them not to. They’re going to do-”

“Whatever they want no matter who it hurts for the greater good of us all and then some.”

“Did I miss something?”  Kara turned towards her sister, reaching over and touching her knee.

Alex huffed out a sigh, jaw flexing visibly before she glanced over at her sister.

“I got into it with Mom and Astra.”

“What? Why?”

“Because they’re both still with that stupid organization and aren’t thinking beyond themselves.  Just like I didn’t with that little trip I took with your Aunt.”

Kara frowned even more Alex always called Astra by her name when referring to her.  Her eyes searched over her sister’s features, clearly seeing her mind running a thousand miles an hour and clouded with agitation and something Kara couldn’t put her finger on just yet.

“Did you go there and defend me or something?”

“Or something,” Alex admitted, glancing up to the driver and nodding her chin forward so that Kara could get the hint that anything she could elaborate on would need to wait until they were without company.

Kara followed her movement before glancing out the window and judging the proximity to where they were in relation to where they were going.  She reached up then and knocked on the partition, pulling the driver’s attention.

“If you could let us out at the next available spot that would be great.” For emphasis, Kara pulled back the little money slot and put an extra twenty dollar bill into the container, before pushing it back towards the driver.  With a slight pitch, the cab pulled over to the excessive honking of a few cars.

“Thank you!”

Kara helped her sister out and pulled her closer against the nor'easter chill.

“Now… is this a little better?”

“My legs are cold.”

“Don't wear jeans with holes in them, or put on leggings first.  Seriously Alex, what happened?.”

“There's this stuff that the D.E.O. found. Hank was supposed to tell you about it but-”

“He conveniently forgot.”

“No, you flew off.” Alex teased a bit as they walked together down the sidewalk. “I went there after you left the apartment-”

“Why?”

“Because you're my sister and I needed to talk to your Aunt.” There was that dissociative phrase again. If she just kept referring to Astra as that maybe she could get thoughts of her and how much they hurt out of her system.

“Okay.?”

“Mom showed me, made me… made sure I knew what it could do in case you were exposed and only I was around because you said what you did to Hank and everything.”

“Alex you're starting to scare me here.’

“Well, it sure as hell scares me. So welcome to the club. It's called Kryptonite.”

“What?”

“Your Aunt named it. It's pieces of your world that made it here on Earth. Kara this stuff, I thought it was a joke. A piece of space junk like any other meteorite. But this stuff…”

Kara stopped, pulling her sister aside into a shop window alcove. “Alex tell me.”

“I saw what this stuff can do. It… it's horrible. It renders you useless. No not just useless it can kill you. I'm not sure after how long when you're exposed to it, I didn't get that far. It's torture, pure and simple. It’s like every terrible, awful thing you could think of occurring all in one moment and no way to stop it.”

Kara searched her sister's features, hands on her shoulders watching Alex's entire aura shift and tears brim along her eyes. Alex knew the next question pulling at Kara's body.  Pulling in a ragged breath, she explained.

“Astra... I watched what it did to her. It was instantaneous  Kara. Mom was able to cut her hand open like she was human. No weaker, because she couldn't even fight back. The Luthor's have this stuff. They have it in order to deal with you, but I don't think they even have the faintest idea what it can do.” Alex swallowed hard as Kara wrapped her up in a hug. “I'm scared, Kara. I'm scared they're going to try something with it against you not knowing and when they do see…”

“Breathe Alex, just breathe.” Kara held her sister tight, feeling the full weight of her emotions without needing to connect with her.

“I saw what they did to Astra.” Alex husked, hugging Kara tighter. She remembered how pale and broken and tortured her body had been. She swore, without even realizing that she would be a contributing force, that she would in see those individuals suffer ten times more than they had made Astra suffer. What Alex also realized now, was how much she was willing to risk for Astra, and her sister, if given the opportunity; despite the events of the past twelve hours or so.  Alex was willing to risk everything, even if Astra wouldn't offer the same I in return.

“They eviscerated her with just what they could come up with on hand. Now they have Kryptonite, and they must've figured something out about it, that makes them willing  to kill just to have it.”

Kara ran her hands through Alex's hair and down her back with a slow soothing intent. It always used to work when she was younger. They held one another until Alex's body stopped convulsing under the control of her emotions. When she heaved a solid heavy sigh Kara pulled back enough to look at her.

“Do you… do you want me to go back?”

Alex took a moment to process the question before looking up at Kara.

“I don't, I don't know. That place has Kryptonite too now. I don't even know how much or even if Mom and Dad know. All it's gonna take is one person going rogue, or an order from like the President or something or Diana and Hank being replaced. I know she said she was working to change who they answer to but I don't know if I can trust it. I dunno what to do.” Alex felt overwhelmed, the reality of just how serious, how deadly their lives were now as compared to months ago, fired off like a bomb inside her.

“Alex? Alex. Alex! Look at me,” Kara demanded, taking her sister's head in her hands before bringing them together. She felt absolute fear and rage all colored with other waves of unchecked emotions. Kara forced herself to take a deep breath, pushing herself into the Earth in an attempt to take Alex with her. “I'm not going to let that happen. Neither are you. Fear is control, it gives them power over you. You're so strong, stronger than me. We will figure something out. I swear it. I swear it on Rao and God and everything that I am.”

Alex clung to her sister, struggling for air while her body threatened to shake her into unconsciousness. She focused on Kara's voice, the feel of her hands, the way the cold air rushed over her skin and finally heard the beating of both their hearts. Turning her focus to making the faster one slow until it met with Kara's much slower one.

 

**\-------**

 

Lex pressed the green button on his phone, lifting the object to his ear as he waited for the intended caller to pick up. On the third ring, he heard the resulting chime within his own proximity, lowering the phone until his mother appeared in the adjoining hall just outside the lab chamber he resided in. He beckoned her in after a snap of his phone resounded, making a nearby tech startle slightly.  

“Don’t look so scared.” He offered with a chilling smile as Lillian stalked up beside him.

“What is so urgent that you’ve called me five times within an hour, after sending your private jet after me?  You know I have to keep up appearances in National City for this party, otherwise, our alibis won’t hold up Alexander.”

“We’ve recreated it.”  He said with a smug tone, chancing a look at her before turning back to the split sphere high-pressure high-temperature apparatus the techs were bumbling around.

“I thought you said it had unknown properties that couldn’t be replicated.”

“Couldn’t be replicated -yet- Mother. Yet being the key word.” Lex put his hands in his pockets, watching through the multi-paned glass as four other chambers were being loaded. “It kept me up a night or two, but in those moments of genius I believe I’ve stumbled onto something here.”

With care and absolute precision, a series of lab techs carefully split apart the sphere, manually removing the outer and inner anvils before reaching the core of the synthesis capsule and extracting the material within it.  

Lex leaned closer to his mother as the two of them observed. “IF you like what you see here you should see the red variation I’ve created after isolating samples for different irradiation and bombardment experiments.”

Lillian smirked faintly. “Be careful my son, we still don’t know exactly what all this can do.  The last thing I would want is for you to lose a limb or something.”

Lex actually chuckled, rolling back on his heels a bit. “That’s what I have them for.”

The object was placed into a small capsule before the lead tech made his way around the protective glass as if on cue and offered the vial up. Lillian was the first to pluck it from his hand, waving him off a second after as she turned the thing over in her grip with scrutiny.  

“There’s something off about it.” She warned, which caused Lex’s grin to falter slightly as he curled his fist around the vial in his pocket before producing it for comparison to the one his mother held.

Without a doubt, when the two substances were side by side the difference was glaring.  The original Kryptonian fragment caught between his fingers was much darker, richer in depth and weight just by appearance alone. The one his mother held was more luminescent, and while a similar shade of green, the density of its structure was clearly lacking.

Lex flexed his jaw, drop catching the vial in his grasp before placing it back within his own pocket while his mother continued to analyze the one in her own.

“We’ll have to run more analysis on it,” she offered curiously before turning her attention to her son. “Don’t undermine yourself, Alexander, you may have just created a continuous source for weaponization.  We only have a limited availability of the original material. By synthesizing it, you may have just saved the world without realizing it yet.”

Lex looked at her more directly then back to the synthetic k-metal within the vial.  Even if it wasn’t at the full potency of the original materials she had a viable point.  Moissanite was created much the same way and only one point off of the same hardness scale as its cousin, Diamond.  Who was to say this hadn’t resulted in the same.

“Certainly growing this in your labs here wasn’t the only reason you sent your plane after me.”

His smile returned in force then, before he offered up his arm for her to take.  She raised a brow at his sudden prideful expression. Setting the vial of synthetic material on a nearby tray with other samples before hooking her arm around his.

With the ease of a perfect gentleman, he set a hand on her own and lead the way out of his lab and down an adjacent hall.  Lillian could feel the downward pitch of the floor, despite the optics that they were walking in a straight and level hall. Other labs and secured areas were a full concert of activity furthering her son’s legacy and that of their family name.  

Lillian allowed that sense of pride to fill her just a little bit, lifting her chin as she caught the sight of various techs and engineers looking up at the two of them as they passed. It made her feel almost like royalty., Kitty could keep her title over National City, Lillian much preferred the term Overlord in its absolution anyway.

Lex keyed them into the room at the end of the hall, where they were both immediately met with two guards. Another pair stood just behind them in full body armor and weapons at the ready.

“Gentlemen.” Lex greeted casually as he disentangled himself from his mother and held his hands up and out while one guard scanned him with some kind of hand-held device and the other conducted a pat down.

“Clean.” The man stated without affect as an armed guard waved him over. “Next.”

Lillian rose a high brow at her son who merely nodded at her to comply.  She shifted her jaw slightly, mimicking her son’s pose as she was scanned and checked over.

“Clean.” The first two moved out of the way as the second armed guard waved Lillian over, leaving the first to key in the code for the secondary door.

“Seems a little excessive son, even for you,” Lillian replied, adjusting her skirt and smoothing a hand absently down her sweater.

“I’m only protecting your asset, Mother.”

The two guards eased out of the way on either side of the chamber door as Lillian and Lex continued forward towards a kind of observation deck. It was surrounded by thick ballistics panes, concrete and steel reinforcements.  As Lillian looked around towards the ceiling, she noted a few cameras, as well as additional security measures. Her attention was pulled back to the sterilized white of a space below their location, or more specifically, to the individual that had begun pacing slowly within it.

“You said the others had expired in transport,” Lillian growled faintly, watching the figure below them slow their movements and broaden their pathway while staring at her and Lex.

“They did.” Lex allowed, watching the figure below and his mother within his periphery. “This one just happened to take better to the revival procedure.” Lillian arched a brow and looked at her son directly.

“Did you know a direct injection of Kryptonian blood to a human heart will eventually make it explode?”

“Eventually?” She inquired cautiously, looking back down to the pacing figure below.

“Well, shortly thereafter in the case of the other test subject or almost instantly.”

“What’s the difference between them?”

“Blood type, and a new heart of course.”  Lex supplied as if he were discussing what to have for dinner.

“Why contain them if they’re just-” Before Lillian could finish the individual below was up on the glass, hanging on the reinforced structures effortlessly. Lex smiled and mouthed what a good creature they were before looking over to his mother.

“How….?”

“Are you familiar with the cardio-study involving ghost hearts?”

“Yes.” Lilian stepped closer, looking at the individual in awe while she was subsequently studied right back. “But the trial only targeted rat hearts.”

“Yes well, medical professionals are slow. They have a red noose of ethical requirements and lack resources like Kryptonian blood and human stem cells. Not to mention that ridiculous oath. Do no harm, clearly, this has only strengthened this subject.”  Lex watched the woman tilt her head like some kind of animal watching the two of them.

“This is only after forty-eight hours post-coma.” Lex supplied, watching Lillian reach out and set her hand on the glass, only to have the woman on the other side mimic the gesture.

“Incredible.” Lillian breathed.

“I had meant it for Valentine’s day, but then I determined you wouldn’t want _just_ a heart.  So she’s yours to continue on with where you left off.  I feel you’ll stand a far better chance of success in comparison to the last few you had before.”


	38. Twilight Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat reflects on her feelings while finalizing the finishing touches of CatCo Magazine's launch event

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks ChupeyDupey for the beta!!  
> [ Sleeping At Last - Saturn ](http://youtubeonrepeat.com/watch/?v=dzNvk80XY9s)

Cat thanked the hotel manager as he escorted them down the large hall just off the grand stairwell of the Seraphim. The manager had assured both side entrances and portions of the sprawling lobby could be utilized as the overall thoroughfare for her event. Sections of the lobby would be prepped and ready for her interview turnstiles, all of which would funnel towards the grand stairwell the hotel was known for and up into the grand event hall.

“There will be attendants for each of the elevators along this floor to take your guests to the grand hall. They will remain in service all night.”

The venue was already being prepared with little nuances, including placards and notifications of a private event, and redirection for hotel guests should they find their stay interrupted.  Cat made sure anyone who felt inconvenienced by the whole endeavor would be compensated with an extra night stay or some other conditional arrangement of their choice, within reason.

As they stepped into the elevator she couldn’t help but marvel at the gold leaf mirrored surfaces and the accent of dark woods, amidst cream-colored marble and terrazzo, all woven into a beautiful tapestry befitting the neoclassical architecture.

“The director of the museum has given us stand-ins for the time being but promised to have the pieces you picked out of National City’s collection delivered the morning of the event. Additional security will ensure each item is managed appropriately.”

“You and your staff have done an excellent job thus far I apologize, only partly, for absconding with your hotel for the weekend.”

“Oh, the pleasure and honor are all ours Ms.Grant.” As well it should be, this was not a simple wedding event or some political glad-handing behind closed doors.  If they weren’t on the map already they certainly would be and they had the woman riding along in the elevator to thank for it.

As they arrived on the designated floor she took note of the residual touches still being plotted and laid out across the hallways.  She couldn’t help the small curve of a smile as she considered the visual, a proverbial trail of breadcrumbs for her guests to follow.

“My suite hasn’t been requested has it?” She asked as they came to a slow stop, already able to see a portion of the grand room through the multitude of filigree brass doors set along the end of the hall before putting her back to the view in order to regard the hotel manager.

“No Ms. Grant, you said your reservation was tentative but we have grey lined you for the evening and the next as requested. Is there a problem?”

Cat shook her head. “No, I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t stealing the room away from an actual paying guest.”

“Please, Ms. Grant, the least I can do as the manager after all this,” he gestured to their surroundings. “Is ensure you have a room, -your- room at no cost.” She thanked him with an amused kind of smirk, giving a short series of nods before crossing her arms over her chest.

“Would you care to see the-”

“Yes, but I'd like to conduct a once over alone, just to be sure.”

“There are still final touches to be made Ms. Grant I wouldn’t-”

“It’s quite alright.  I appreciate you taking the time to clear the staff inside for me. I understand the inconvenience may set the event team back, but I promise it will not reflect on you or the hotel staff and your efforts in any capacity.” She drew in a slow breath. “It’s, just something I need to do.”

The manager seemed to recognize the statement for what it was, giving a small half smile before nodding accordingly.  “I’ll make sure you’re not disturbed then.”

Cat smiled warmly waiting for him to step aside and head back towards the elevator banks. She turned and made her way to the filigree doors, easing the set in the middle aside to allow her entrance.  She kept her eyes on the floor, following along the inlaid marble as her heels announced her approach across the space.

It was something her father had done at any event he hosted. Those were few and far between seeing her mother was usually in charge of such things.  There was just something about that first little touch of magic, settling into all the spaces and empty air and wanting to be a driving force behind that first impression before it all erupted into controlled chaos.

She swallowed hard as the expansive mezzanine level opened up to her, with the majestic reach of the floor to ceiling limestone corinthian-esque columns. She took her time,  tracing over the gilded honeycombed ceiling. The translucent tapestries were already hung and fixed as if to appear like clouds between two-story arched windows along the side walls that gave a panoramic view of the city around them.

She continued onward until she reached the stone railing overlooking the grand ballroom. The space was already dressed and fitted with tables and crystal arrangements waiting for the final touches of candles and flowers.  The lowered light rig was obscured the finer majesty of the room and she could see the empty banner poles that would grace the room with the cover of the first issue of CatCo magazine featuring the heroine of National City.

Not to mention, the captivator of her own heart.

She carefully eased her way across the raised floor, appraising the granite walls adorned with winged women and gilded accents.  She could see the alcoves where those few select pieces Sara had so graciously let her borrow were to be placed and felt her chest clench in anticipation.  

Each step resounded like some god-like heartbeat, carrying her to the first adjacent room, set up for quieter conversation and its own means of a reprieve for the less social of her invited guests.  She rounded the small curvature that quieted the sounds from the main hall and was instantly surrounded by hand-rubbed, oak paneled walls, hand-cut dentil molding, and a soapstone fireplace.

Fingertips touched along the polished oak bar, eyes glancing about to the small touches the event staff had added to make the transition seamless and still accomplishing a warm and inviting ambiance. She already wanted a glass of whiskey, and maybe, she thought with a grin, a cigar as she stepped across to the hand-forged wrought-iron window grates that accentuated the authenticity of the hand-blown glass window panes overlooking National City’s business district.  

She couldn’t help but smile with her own deep sense of pride as her building sat prominent and proud. The brilliance of CatCo’s lighted moniker, even in the sunset of the growing evening, was a fitting backdrop to the distinguished and stately space that provided that antiquated boy's club ambiance while upending it at the same time.

Cat eased her way back out, heading to the opposite end of the mezzanine. This space would serve as a kind of staging area for various security forces that would now be required to attend, given Marsden’s presence, along with a few other dignitaries who had RSVP’d.  It was a pity the leather seating and decadent nuances of the room would serve more as a central command instead of its more intimately intended setting.

“My God Cat, how are you ever going to top this.” She whispered to herself as she descended the ramp side of the mezzanine down into the heart of the ballroom until her heels struck inlaid marble once more. Instantly her eyes were drawn upward to the continuous gold-leaf gilded honeycomb design that led to the center of the room’s greatest features; a three thousand square foot stained-glass skylight ceiling seventy feet above the main floor.

She felt her breath catch at the sight alone, while her mind supplied her with the phantom additive of Supergirl hovering above that very spot. The image sent her heart racing. She put a hand on the side of her face, feeling the warmth beneath it as thoughts of Kara spun away in her mind. It seemed her thoughts lingered on how responsive Cat had been to her, not only the night prior but all day long.

She slid her hand over her mouth then, arm propped on its opposite and wrapped around her ribs as she continued forward, while thoughts of being pressed up against the wall of her ensuite at work flooded her nerve endings and threatened to make themselves vocal. Cat almost had to laugh, she felt… giddy. It was such a rare occurrence she couldn’t remember the last time that particular flutter of sensation had convulsed through her body.  She chided herself a moment after, chasing away thoughts and what-ifs for another time. This was about her venue and her event, not how many places she might have also been taking inventory of in order to steal kisses or otherwise occupy herself with Kara throughout the evening.

Pulling in a sharp breath she followed along the intimate oval shape of the hall knowing it would naturally lend itself to the movement of guests while the symmetry of the room provided an accommodating scene for anyone, no matter where they stood. Nothing caught her attention above anything else. Not a table setting, the dance floor and accompanying orchestral area, not even the finer touches that conveyed her memory of flying through the nightscape that she intended to portray. It was as incredible as it was nostalgic.

She reminded herself that she would need to do a complete write up of this place for the magazine thereafter and already marked down in her mind who she wanted to cover it.  With steady steps, her fingertips brushed across the ceiling-height brass pocket doors adjacent to the ballroom itself before she split them apart to reveal the lounge. She stood on the edge of where marble met carpet, taking in the hand-carved, richly painted ceiling and white marble wainscoting as well as the built-in bar that added versatility and function while contributing to the elegance of the space without taking away from the grandeur of the rest of the hall.

Once she made it to the back of the room she turned and took in what she felt had been the single most salient and breathtaking selling point for this entire thing.  An eighty-foot wall of glass overlooking the whole of National City and surrounding bay in the distance. Her arms tightened around her ribs as she walked across the grand room towards it, the wings of anxiousness beating away at her insides as she settled on her next series of intentions.

Tucked away on either side of the glass wall, via a small set of stairs was an even more spectacular structure.  The glass suspended balcony, low enough to not obscure the view of guests inside, while also giving one the feeling of walking on air. She navigated the shallow stairwell, feeling her heart thunder away as she stepped over the center of the transparent terrace, marveling at the protective architecture that kept the winds native to this height at bay.

Looking out over the city without the encasing of the grand architecture behind her she allowed herself to indulge in the quiet nature of everything surrounding her life. The turbulent journey that had begun from the moment she had first seen Kara when she had rescued her son from falling to the floor, to waking up this morning with fading memories of the night prior and feeling genuinely disheartened at being alone in her bed for the first time in years.

She had been reevaluating so many little moments and unexplained circumstances that now made perfect sense when she understood that Kara and Supergirl were the same person.  There was a part of her that argued that she should be angry, even humiliated, given the fine little intricacies that Kara had woven around her heroic persona and Cat herself. Instead, she found herself admiring the effort, pinpointing an intentional thread of consideration she hoped Kara was cognizant of.  

There were things she was not addressing; neither of them were apparently. Otherwise, she was sure Kara would have stepped away from being Carter's nanny and assuredly she would have stepped away from Cat by now. It was a self-sacrificing nuance she had recognized in the woman early on but wasn't convinced if it would ever come into play until New Year's Eve forever ago.  

Kara had been almost passive aggressive in accepting Austin's job offer while subsequently staying silent when it concerned Cat and how she had sent Kara away. Ultimately, Cat theorized, it was a direct reflection of her own passive aggressive actions, and of how Kara and Alexandra were better off without her influence. In turn, it had forced Cat herself to make the choice of keeping her or not, although she wondered now if there had even been a choice to have made.

Kara’s reactionary response to Cat’s own concerning that whole endeavor, while well intended, had served as its own kind of turning point between them then. She almost had to laugh what with her parading around as some kind of unspoken hero to Alexandra, and ultimately Kara, with the hospital board, tearing down her ex-husband for his proclivities and playboy antics whether she knew about them or not. Like some jilted, cynical White Knight and actually allowed Kara to slip away when even then she realized there was something that continued to draw her to the other woman because she thought it would be better for the both of them.

Even she would be lying if she hadn't taken the time to consider letting Kara go on all fronts because of who she really was. That undeniable element she could see growing in the hearts and minds of the people of National City and what Supergirl was slowly coming to mean to it and possibly beyond.

It had kept her awake far longer than she should have let it, knowing this couldn’t be a single-sided conversation but knew she needed to set her mind straight before she and Kara ventured into it.  She understood to a point, as she had sat up listening to the voices of logic and reason in her head. Cat had compared it to being married to a doctor, or a soldier, the president even. There was a civic duty to that, an acceptance to being the other half of a hero.  Being with a hero means accepting that hero's sacrifices.

Only her hero was beyond all compare and she had to concede the fact that the more she thought about what Kara was, the more selfish she became about her.  With that selfishness, she felt the bitter poison of jealousy, not like any other kind she could find a comparison to. How could one find a comparison equal to being jealous of the whole world?  It was just as hard to reconcile the plausibility that every minute that Kara spent playing nanny was a minute that someone out there was not getting saved.

But that was another daunting truth. Kara wasn't playing at that any more than she was playing at being a superhero.

That was the real clincher. Kara had always been Supergirl, deep down and somewhere along the way she allowed herself to embrace that, while still trying to maintain all that balance in her life beyond the cape. Had Cat not done the same in her own way? Were it not for Kara, she wondered if she would be standing where she was at all.   Add the complications of her sister and any number of other possibilities that she could conceive of, and some she knew she couldn't, and it was enough to frighten anyone.

Except her.

A woman with brains who gives up everything in place of love inevitably finds herself staring into an existential abyss, that men, babies, and the extravagances of celebrity simply cannot fill. She knew this first hand, despite all the convincing and excuses she had surrounded herself with.  Somewhere she had lost her confidence, her sense of identity and most importantly her mind.

Cat had already run, compromised her basic fundamentals, hidden behind her own masks and contrived scenarios and where had it gotten her?  The more she thought about it the more she had come to realize how much she had reclaimed in her life. Largely in part to the woman who undoubtedly was going to drive herself mad trying to reconcile two halves of a whole that were never meant to be separated to begin with.

She understood the why; no one could be a hero all the time, not without losing their humanity in the process. Which essentially made Kara exactly who she was, while Supergirl merely showed, not only to Cat but the world, what she was capable of. What they all might be capable of if given the chance. Being the counterpart to a hero wasn’t about accepting their sacrifices like some consolation prize.  Being with a hero like Kara meant never accepting defeat. It meant rising up to that level and beyond it and trying to accept that _she_ was the hero of the superhero...

Kara had been so right.  They were both at this make or break point. That no turning back, ruin you one way or another, once in a million lifetimes kind of crossroads. She realized if this was how it was going to be, she could not with any sense of consciousness choose to just cut her losses, turn tail and run. To just exist in some kind of cobbled ruin of her own making, alone like she had before now, before Kara.

When had she become so complacent in that persona of herself?

She could easily relate to the fear and uncertainty that was as transparent as the glass she was standing on now. The pathological need to want to stay within her comfort zone colored with a natural human fear of change. There were no illusions to be had. If the journey so far was an indicator, it would continue to be just as hard.  Possibly harder than she could even conceive at the moment given the circumstances. There was an underlying truth. Like the steel supports where she stood, knowing whatever awaited either of them on the other side of all this, they would be made into new people as would those around them, both good and bad.

She wanted to meet that version of herself; to see the life she could only sense ahead of her like another person standing in the dark just beyond the reach of her fingertips.  That person was Kara and Supergirl and the whole that those two versions of the woman ultimately made.

Cat meant what she said last night, as much as she felt the truth of it root deeper into her being now. She wanted that kind of dangerous with Kara, with Supergirl. She wanted that life, that testament to the rest of the world. Kara had said it herself, stronger together. That was exactly what Cat wanted to be. Anything less seemed perfidious and frankly dishonorable.

Cat felt her throat run dry, nearly laughing at her own body's response as she drew in a deep breath, knowing regret was now merely a word for those too afraid to dare for something greater than just passively living.

“SUPERGIRL!”

The first stars of the night were already coming to life across the horizon as she counted.

One…

Two…

Three…

Four…

Five…

She felt her heart thundering, arms tightening around her body as she searched the skies, feeling the gentle weight of anticipation resting on her shoulders.

Six…

Seven…

Eight…

Nine…

The flutter of the woman’s cape cut through the tenth-second count in her head as she seemed to float down from out of nowhere until they were close enough to touch.  Cat swallowed hard, pushing at the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her even at that moment as the whole of the woman ahead of her settled into her very soul unexpectedly.

“Are you alright Ms. Grant?”  

The formality and strength of Kara’s voice struck her again, while her brain questioned how she couldn’t have put the pieces together before now.  While another voice supplied because she had only barely seen that particular side of Kara maybe twice outside of that suit. Any other moment she had been gifted, she had squandered behind some assumption that Kara was just like everyone else.  

“I think so.” It was an honest answer, one that provoked Supergirl to drift closer to her until it appeared as if they were both standing on that glass balcony.  

“Has something happened?” Supergirl asked in earnest, looking around them a moment and beyond Cat’s body to the hall inside just in case before turning her full attention back to the other woman. Her apology for her behavior the last time they were around one another brimming on her tongue.

Something had happened all right. Kara was nothing like everyone else. Even if she wasn’t the superhero floating in front of her now all proud and protective while still evoking an undeniable tenderness and compassion.  Kara had been exceptional, she had changed something in Cat without either of them realizing it, something she didn’t even know was willing to change, all sans cape and the ability to fly.

“I was doing my final run through before, the… event this weekend. I, I wanted to make sure you were still coming before I confirmed the final set up and to ask you… a few things.”  Cat knew she was skirting a fine line, knew she had made her choices with this persona that night on the balcony and at the same time longed to reach out, pull the caped crusader to her, pry off that mask and confess it all between her kisses.

Supergirl tilted her head curiously, floating close enough that the toes of her boots grazed along the glass partition separating the two of them.

“You want to go flying again?”

Cat heard the smile behind the mask perfectly and couldn’t help its infectious nature from spreading to her own lips. “Maybe another time.”  She cleared her throat quietly, tipping her head back enough to look at Supergirl directly.

“I wanted to make sure, before I assumed, that it was alright to use that.” She gestured in Supergirl’s direction fleetingly. “On a few things throughout the event hall.”

“Use wha-”  Supergirl’s words halted instantly as Cat’s hand spread itself over her crest firmly.

“This.” Cat pressed, flexing her fingers just enough that she saw the hero register the action in the form of a sudden tension pulling at her body.

Supergirl’s arm felt as if it were encased in lead, passing through freshly poured concrete as she reached up and fit her hand over Cat’s.  Her eyes remained downcast for a moment or more before she finally felt she could look up without blurting something out that she might regret.

“It has been a while since I’ve seen my family’s crest displayed so prominently.”

“I understand. I wouldn’t want to dishonor-”

“No. Rao no. It is not a dishonor, not at all. Not, not from you.”

The admittance hit Cat square in the gut, along with the struggle she could feel pulling at the other woman’s body. It took everything in her next breath not to tell the other woman she already knew, that there was nothing to be afraid of, when she knew deep down there was plenty to be terrified about.

“Nothing gaudy or overabundant, but I wanted to be sure considering how poorly I’ve handled other things before now.”

“I appreciate that.” Supergirl’s voice was low, her fingers curling around Cat’s hand as they formed a single fist that she held against her own heart. “I am going to be there. I can’t promise an exact time or that I will be able to stay longer than a few moments.”

Cat nodded, her next words halting at the sound of sirens erupting into the air in the distance. She squeezed Supergirl’s hand then, seeing how her features had already turned towards the wailing noise in order to pinpoint it.

“I have to go, Ms. Grant.” She stated before squeezing back gently and drifting away until Cat tugged on her, pulling her back in.

“My real name is Catherine. But I much prefer if you called me Cat, no matter the situation.”

Supergirl seemed taken aback by the words before giving another squeeze and a nod as Cat released her hold and their fingers drifted apart. The heroine floated backward slowly before taking off into the sky without a sound or a shift in the air like a whisper of a thrill.

Cat starred up after her, arms wrapping around herself once more as she let the grin she felt pulling at her mouth grow.

“That… is so hot..”  


	39. Chasing Dinosaurs and Little Birds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat chases after her little bird and dinosaur

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super-thanks to ChupeyDupey for the betas!

Kara was on all fours, crouched low along the ground hidden behind the rise of the couch nearby.  Chancing a look over her glasses with a tip of her head down through the surrounding furniture before a noise to her opposite side pulled her attention.  She checked the stairs and the floors above, thankful she knew this place almost as intimately as her own apartment before looking back towards the direction of the sound that was much closer now.

She drew in a deep breath, bracing herself for the impact she could sense approaching.  There was a roar of noise and she spun around coming face to face with grey fleecy skin flecked with yellow spots and spikes.

“I gots you!” Carter shouted, the tail of his dinosaur outfit flopping to the side where they laid on the ground.  Kara had turned the instant he leaped at her, catching the boy mid-air before rolling back in an exaggerated manner as if he’d pounced her like some great beast  She kept her features turned to the side, eyes closed and playing dead as he bounced his weight against her shoulders on his hands.

His little hood flopped forward swallowing him up and giving him an even more amusing appearance as his little dinosaur spikes stood on end like a mohawk.  He roared at her again before reaching over and trying to pull her head back to center. She rolled with the motion, keeping her face impassive save for the slightest twitch of a smile as she felt him lean closer, putting his hand over her nose to check for air.

“Mamasaurus?”

Her eyes popped open then and she grabbed him by the waist, hoisting him high above her with her own playful roar of surprise.

“Now I’ve got you!”

He laughed and squealed, kicking his legs which only sent the tail built into his pants wagging and wiggling about.  Kara couldn’t help but laugh, letting his weight carry him down in her arms as she playfully mouthed at his hood with full-on ‘nom’ sound effects before rocketing him back up above her.  His giggles filled her up, broadening her own grin as he flung his limbs out and let out another ‘rawr’ sound. His entire weight was in Kara’s hands and given his carefree expression so was his entire level of trust in her.  

“Fying!” He wiggled and danced in the air, while Kara dropped and dipped him this way and that with giggles and sound effects that produced more spit than sound in the long run. “I kin fy! Doot doo dooo I kin fyi, jus like yooooo!”

With that Kara felt her heart skip a beat and she let him freefall in her grasp. She, letting his body go only at the last breath of a second, causing him to thump into her with a hearty giggle.  

“Just like me!?” She questioned excitedly only to hoist him back up unexpectedly, flipping him over on his back in the air with a gentle push and an even more secure grip on him as he laughed and stretched, trying to bend over backward above her to look at her.  

“I don’t have wings! I can’t fly!” She teased, teeter-tottering his body about while he held out a continuous note of a sound just to hear what his body movements did to it.

“Momma fly… so Mama fly.”

“Kara, and nooo Momma didn’t fly….Supergirl did.”

Carter struck a pose Kara knew all too well the second the name was out of her mouth, seeing as she was the one who it originated from.  One arm was stretched up and out, his little hand curled into a fist while his other arm was bent and tucked into his side, fist in line with his solar plexus.  She felt the burn of something deep in her chest, like a thorn splitting open the muscle, sharp and rich and momentarily overwhelming. Her eyes were instant pools of glass as she watched him stretch and shift position while guiding him through the pretend skies.

She heard the noise just outside the door before he did.  It wasn’t until the lock clicked that his attention was pulled and he asked for Kara to turn him over hurriedly. She complied, watching him push back his little hood and strike that pose again outstretched on her arms.  Kara knew the instant that door opened it would appear as if he were ‘flying’ just above the line of the couch. At least until the rational mind recognized Kara’s hands around his body holding him up, even if one couldn’t see the rest of her at all.

Cat let out a huff as she pushed open the door, brushing off the few beads of rain that had gotten ahold of her despite the umbrella Austin had provided. When she straightened up, hand pushing back her hair, she found herself stopping with the sight that greeted her.

Carter was hoisted up, poised and at the ready. He was enough to make any superhero or mother proud. His grin was instant as he was turned her way with a small shift of the hands around his midsection as if banking around a building corner.

“Look, Momma, I’m Supergrr!”

Cat set her bag and jacket on a chair as she passed it, the weight of the day starting to melt away from her with her son’s words and posture.

“Super-grr? Here?!” She mock gasped, taking note of Kara on her back on the floor and the way her expression shifted the instant she realized Cat could see her when she came closer. “Incredible!” She stepped out of her shoes easily, climbing onto the couch on her knees. She pressed against the back cushions of the furniture as Carter was spun around to face her directly instead of in profile.

“I need Super-grr’s help.” Cat mused, causing Carter to perk up and shift his stance as Kara continued to help him fly.   The woman on the floor couldn’t help but bite at her bottom lip at the pair, stifling the bubble of laughter in her chest.

“Whatcha nees help with Momma?”

Cat felt her heart melt a little bit more at the genuine nature of his question before she reached over.

“Tickling you senseless!” She snatched Carter up and pulled him onto the couch with a bounce into the cushions and a peel of laughter followed by mirth ridden screams and protests from the little boy.

“Noohohohohooooo! Mama halp haahaha-eeeeheheeee! MAMA!”

Kara made her way around the opposite side of the couch on all fours, hearing his little squeals and pleas she popped up from the arm just over his head where he reached for her.  

“She can’t help you now!” Cat growled playfully, her grin and mood broadening exponentially.

“Wanna bet?” Kara challenged, using the arm of the couch for leverage and balance as she ducked down beneath the wave of Cat’s hair and sought out her mouth, sending a small surprised squeak of a sound into the air when the two connected.  

Cat’s hand stilled on her son’s tummy to make sure he didn’t fall as the other fanned across the side of Kara’s face. She kissed the other woman back openly and without restraint as if they did this every day. Only to feel both of them slip right out of her grasp.  The sudden shock of it all leaving her bemused and suddenly alone on the couch.

Kara had snuck her hands under Carter’s body, holding him just under his arms and when she had pulled back she took him right over the arm of the couch with her.  In the same solid motion, she stuck him on her shoulders, righted the two of them making sure he was stable and secure and took off running.

“Go Mama go!”

“Why… you…two... little .. double-crossing…” Cat actually stood on her own couch, causing Carter to squeal and Kara to nearly swear behind a laugh.

“Ut-oh..” Carter supplied causing Kara to look up at him before looking back at Cat, feeling her smile falter with something akin to amused shock.  The one, and only, Cat Grant CEO and crowned media Queen of National City actually braced herself on the back of her own couch and vaulted over it like it was an Olympic sport and she was the current gold medal holder.

Kara actually backed up a few steps when she moved again, taking note how Cat had only just barely mused up the tucked line of her shirt where it met her skirt in the process of that little maneuver.

“HURWY MAMA! RUN!” Carter’s shout landed right as Cat’s grin expanded into something befitting her namesake and even caused her nose to crinkle. Kara didn’t need to be told twice and she quickly dumped him from her shoulders into the safer hold of her arms and took off up the stairs with him. Ensuring he played lookout as she tried not to get so turned on at the image still burning through her brain that she tripped and fell.

“Sees coming!” Carter said around the bounce of Kara’s body as she skipped the second floor altogether and raced for the third.  She could hear Cat’s laughter at herself and no doubt the situation as a whole along with her own steps after them up the stairs.

Kara raced down the hall, taking a sharp left while Carter laughed and Cat proclaimed that she was going to get them. She grabbed the comforter on the bed flipping it and the sheets about and bunching them up before dashing into the closet and edging around the corner of the dresser. She eased Carter into her lap, tucking them behind the drapery of Cat's clothes before setting up a few pairs of shoes out in front of them to hide her legs. Carter put his hands over his mouth while Kara pulled his tail back around her waist and they both pressed into the wall straining to listen.

Carter jumped when they heard Cat in the other room making a spectacle of noise. Kara’s finer hearing easily determined that she had pounced on the bed and wrapped herself around the ruse of the messed up bed sheets thinking they were there.

“OH, you’ve both done it now! Messing up my bed!?”  Cat called out, pushing off the mattress and untucking her shirt in the process as she found its lines too constricting for comfort.  She looked towards the balcony, finding the doors there closed and locked tight. She padded on bare feet to her bathroom, checking over the edge of the tub and inside the shower just to be sure before turning to face her closet.

“Gotcha..” She muttered as she made her way over and as quietly as she could manage tip-toed inside.  Kara felt Carter hold his breath and she did too, even if just a little, trying to remain perfectly still as Cat moved in the opposite direction from where they were hiding.  

Cat glanced around the expanse of her closet, trying not to laugh at the absurdity. and Tthe giddy feeling filled her to the brim and chased the rest of her workday away entirely.  She willed her mind not to find the imperfection of the room, to push away at the part of her that required order and structure and instead just enjoy the controlled chaos they were all involved in.  

“I’m gonna find you.” She sing-songed with a playful threat putting her hand out, low near her hip, letting it slide between the hanging fabrics of her wardrobe as she toed at spaces here and there.

Kara dipped down against Carter’s hood, whispering against it into his ear until he nodded and she set her hands around his midsection, poised and ready as Cat stalked around her closet in search of them.   Carter’s whole body stiffened in anticipation when Cat’s legs came into view and Kara dipped further down as she saw clothes nearby being moved.

Cat chewed on her bottom lip a bit, listening for any sound out of the ordinary as she rounded through the room, stepping cautiously, her grin never fading away.  She rounded the last corner just before her dresser, feeling the shift in temperature just below her hand but continued on as if she hadn’t.

“GO GO GO!” Kara shouted, erupting from their hiding place easily enough and setting Carter on the floor ahead of herself as he rounded the island of a dresser set in the center of the closet.  Kara stayed close behind while Cat shouted after them with a bubble of laughter, turning and running after the larger of the two.

“Run buddy run!” Kara laughed loudly, feeling Cat grab her from behind as they reached the door of the closet and still pulled forward. “I’ll hold her off!” With a thunder of little feet, Carter was off. Kara turned into the yank of her shirt collar, colliding with Cat’s frame around a full barrage of laughter and promises that Cat was still going to get him, before letting out a surprised shout of amusement when the two fell.

Kara oofed, as Cat’s weight landed on her on the bed, for emphasis before reaching behind herself and using the opposite edge of the mattress for leverage, yanking them both further onto it.

“No you don’t,” Cat warned, still under the impression Kara was trying to get away from her.  Cat grabbed for her belt in order to hinder the other woman's escape before using her own body to pin Kara down even if she knew deep down it was absolutely useless to try.

“She’s got me!” Kara laughed, warning Carter from wherever he had run to hide as she felt Cat pull her up by the front of her shirt. “Save me, Carter! Save-” The rest of her plea was abruptly cut off as Cat kissed the air right out of her lungs.  

Cat was on her knees astride Kara’s lap, skirt riding higher on her legs as they slid further apart. Her hand was still fisted around the other woman's shirt to keep her in place. With that kiss alone Cat tried to convey just how much of herself she was willingly laying out for Kara to claim as her own.

Kara’s amusement shifted drastically, one hand holding herself up against the bed so Cat didn’t have to as the other fanned out across the warm skin of Cat's bare abdomen from under her shirt.  Kara brought her legs up gradually, haphazardly folding them beneath Cat as the woman sat down further.

Fingers threaded through Kara’s hair along the back of her neck. The hold on her shirt eased as Cat pressed her hand flat over the woman’s chest and flexed her fingers into the muscle there just below her throat.  She felt Kara chase after her mouth weakly as they broke apart, eyes opening to reveal a lost kind of wonder within their depths to Cat. Kissing anyone to the point of memory malfunction was one thing, being able to achieve that with Kara was entirely another.  Seeing her at such a loss, face flushed from their antics and something more carnal only urged Cat to lean down and kiss her again, albeit much more continent than the one before it.

“I’ve got you alright,” Cat whispered, searching Kara’s eyes with their closeness. “And you’ve got me…” She felt the core of her body shudder as Kara palmed at her until her hand slid away somewhat reluctantly and onto the mattress. A second later Carter ran into the room, taking a flying leap onto the bed with a small rawr intent on grappling his mother.

She recovered quickly, playing along with his antics as she oofed and gasped and fell off Kara’s lap onto the bed. Kara snatched Carter at the waist then, watching all his limbs go out like before as he 'rawred' and she dive bombed him into Cat’s faux prone form.  Cat used a pillow as a buffer, causing Carter to laugh and squeal as he was repeatedly bopped with each dive.

Kara stayed up on her knees, controlling Carter’s frame easily, the blush on her cheeks still evident around the full smile as they played about. At the last second Cat dropped the pillow to her own body, a signal Kara read easily and steered Carter into his final dive bomb where she actually let go of him.  

With a scream of a laugh, he dove right into the dense cushion, his mother’s arms wrapping around him and trapping him in place in an overly extravagant hug all for his benefit as they made a pillow sandwich.

When Kara moved to get up, Cat reached over to her, tugging on her gently before wrapping her son back up again. She waited for him to settle a bit before she eased her hold and the pair looked at one another.  Kara eased closer, pressing her shoulder into the headboard before reaching over and pushing Carter’s dino-onesie hood off his head.

“Thas was fun.” Carter allowed, propping his chin on his hands as he looked at his mother.

“Lots and lots,” Cat added before giving out a sigh, bending an arm behind her head so she could look at him properly.

“You have fun today?” He nodded at her.

“Miss mommy?” He nodded over and over.

“Momma works hard, an late cause she smawt and important like me.”

Cat glanced from him to Kara who shrugged a single shoulder before looking back to her son.

“That you are.  And I’m sorry I wasn’t home earlier, this week’s very, very busy.”

Carter nodded again as if he completely understood the weight of her words. “Momma’s getting weady fo Supergrr.”  He gave another definitive nod as Cat smiled at him. “Wanna meets her too. Gotsa say thank you still.”

“That’s right, I need your letter-” Her words stopped as he shook his head before he looked at Kara then back to Cat.

“No, gotsa do imperson, important.” He gave a definitive nod to her then while her eyes turned to Kara once more who at least had the decency to look admonished.

“I’ll see if I can’t ask her day after tomorrow okay?”

Carter nodded, his own big smile forming on his face. “I’s gonna stay wiff Lizasaurus!”

Kara went to interrupt him but when Cat looked at her the words to do so failed completely.

“Lizasaurus? Really, I haven’t talked to her about it. I didn't know she was still in town.”

Carter’s expression fell a bit and he immediately swung his face in the direction of Kara.

“I uh… was going to ask you about that but there’s so much going on.  Alex and I are going to your dinner, so is Lena otherwise either of them could watch him.  My mother’s still in town so I thought maybe it would be okay if she stayed with him or he with her at my place if that’s okay. I didn’t-”

“It’s perfect actually.” Cat allowed but didn't expand further. Carter’s grin returned, followed by a small yawn that carried itself between the three of them.

“You already eat my prince?” Carter nodded a few times over.

“Should eat too Momma, Mama makes good fewd.”

“Kara…” The other woman corrected while Cat set a hand on the woman’ thigh, running her thumb over the curve of her knee.

“I’ll eat, but it is getting later and later my prince, you need to go get ready for bed just like I do.”

“Aw, kay Momma.” Carter yawned again, his energy seemed to slip from his body the more they relaxed and talked to each other. “I wanna pick out m'jamms.”

Cat chuckled, using Kara’s leg as leverage to sit up, her other arm holding Carter firmly before she scooted towards the edge.  With the movement Kara sat up further, waiting til Cat and Carter were clear of her before she got off of the bed as well. With an exaggerated noise, Cat lifted her son as she stood, wiggling him from the air to the floor before letting go.

“Go get started then.”

“Okay!” He took off like a bullet a second later, his tail bobbing about, leaving the two women alone again.

Kara chuckled at him, stretching slightly as she grabbed whatever toy he had brought in with him, no doubt to help him with his rescue efforts. As she stood up to mention it she was instantly drawn to the play of Cat’s fingers working the third button, in a series of six, apart and forgot what words were.

“You going to help me get ready too?”

Cat laughed full and loud as Kara dropped the toy in her hand, even if she had yet to stop unbuttoning her shirt. “I was kidding… maybe… Go take care of that little guy.” She pushed up on the balls of her feet and kissed Kara.  By the time the other woman’s mind caught up with it Cat was already walking into her bathroom.

Kara’s smile was dopey at best as she turned with a spin, a few steps into the hall she hauled Carter up from the floor in his rush back to them with his pajamas in hand.  She flipped him upside-down and around completely before setting him on her shoulders and bouncing down to the second floor.

“Bath time!”

Carter was already drifting off by the time she was able to kiss him goodnight and tell him how much she loved him.

She brushed curls off his forehead before tucking his blankets around him and getting up. She eased the door half closed, as always, before she stepped out towards the landing stopping short when she saw the dim lights of the living room below and the darkened kitchen beyond it.  For a second she thought Kara had left without saying goodbye, although a part of her chest tightened when the second thought was that she had to leave hastily and unfurl that cape of hers.

“Up here,” Kara whispered, twisting Cat’s attention around as she saw the other woman on the third floor, wondering when she had managed to get past her, even if only for a second. She made her way up the stairs, having showered and changed. Kara was rather overdressed and less comfortable with her cardigan and dress slacks by comparison.  She watched the woman edge around her bedroom door, already feeling her heart pound and stutter at the thoughts her mind supplied only to come up short when she saw the bed remade and a tray set in the center with a waiting plate of food and a glass of wine.

“I’ve been going about that all wrong.” Cat mused, stepping further into the room where Kara tipped her head at her curiously. “I could have sworn it was breakfast in bed.”

Kara let out a breath of a laugh, heading for the bed to gather the tray so it didn’t topple when Cat got into it only to have her arm encircled, pulling her attention.  Cat used Kara's arm to draw herself closer, fitting her body against Kara’s own in a small little sway of movement none-too far removed from dancing.

They fit around one another easily, arms hanging loosely, hands fitting into soft curves and pliant indentations of each other’s bodies.  Cat pressed her forehead to the curve of Kara’s chin until the woman lifted her head, rubbing across her scalp as the smaller of the two set her features between Kara’s shoulder the sternum. Kara tightened her arms around Cat’s body briefly, the pair of them swaying to a tune only they could hear.

“You could stay…” Cat admitted after countless moments, the steady harmonic of Kara's heart lulling her into a kind of boneless content.

Kara hummed appreciatively, fingers curling into Cat's hair and easing its length behind her ear before stroking the soft skin below along the side of her neck.

“All night with me… then stay all day with Carter. No change of clothes required.”

“You could show me that whole breakfast in bed thing.” Kara teased causing Cat to hum with her own affectionate purr. “But then you might have to rush or else you would be late for work. Not sure if I've mentioned it but I have this really high metabolism and I would require brunch… followed by a really long lunch, a few afternoon snacks to tide me over then dinner...and another midnight snack or two.”

Cat tightened her arms around Kara then, leaning back enough to look at her with a lazy, knowing smile.

“I make you that hungry?”

Kara leaned down to the other woman, licking at Cat’s lips only to kiss her the second they parted to take a breath. Cat wrapped her hands around Kara’s shoulders from under her arms, pulling herself up higher as Kara’s arms circled low at her waist until she couldn’t feel the ground anymore.

Cat couldn’t help the whimper that slipped between them as Kara deepened the kiss, tasting every bit of her with deep, languid strokes of her tongue before tugging on her bottom lip as she gradually lowered Cat back down to the ground until they broke apart.

“God…..damn…” Cat breathed, drawing a wide grin to Kara’s mouth before Cat pushed at her chest playfully.

“You need to eat.” Kara urged tenderly, the half octave drop of her voice turning Cat’s insides into a rolling tide of molten fire.

“Don’t think for a -second-... that I’m not thankful for whatever that is on the bed, but I don’t think I have the appetite for it after that. Even if I feel like I’m starving.”

Kara chuckled, nosing Cat’s hairline as her hands smoothed over her hips and flexed gently as she dipped her features inward, nudging Cat’s ear with her nose.

“Do I make you that hungry?”

Cat groaned as she felt the heat of Kara’s lips fit around the edge of her ear before the chill of her exhale washed over the moistened skin.

“If you’re not going to stay,” Cat warned in a low voice from the depths of her chest. “You should go before I make sure you can’t.”

Kara drew in an audible breath through her nose, distributing kisses along the side of Cat’s neck with a small laugh. “That sounds like a threat.”

“I’d call it a challenge,” Cat admitted, which it would be. She had seen what Kara could do to a bar of steel alone. Another soft murmur of a curse escaped her, whispering across Kara’s ears as she reached up and stretched the collar of Cat’s shirt away and over the round of her shoulder.

“Like trying to leave right now.” Kara laid the flat of her tongue across Cat’s skin, feeling the woman's nails dig into her back as her mouth rounded over the curve of muscle across her shoulder, teeth grazing across her skin. “Which I don’t really want to do… not without leaving something for you to remember me by.”

Cat felt her breath hitch sensing the sparse pressure of Kara’s teeth and the veiled question wrapped throughout her words.  “It would be impossible for you to slip my mind, Kara…” Fingers slid up the back of Kara’s neck, flexing into the cords of muscle there as she bent her head up until her lips brushed across the other woman’s ear. “Don’t leave… without taking a little something with you to tide you over…”

Kara whimpered against her skin, widening her mouth enough to fit around the muscle of Cat’s shoulder, biting down gently before thrusting her tongue against the surface and sucking hard. Cat dug her fingers into Kara’s skin, letting out a short series of pants against the curve where the other woman’s neck dipped into her shoulder.  Cat felt the pull on her skin, drawing the heat, surging low around her hips up through her body into Kara’s mouth from the pressure she was creating.

With another heartbeat between them, the vacuum broke, sending a shiver through Cat’s frame that was only compounded with the tender kisses Kara left on her newly colored skin. Cat reached between them, gathering Kara’s face in her hands before pulling her back, leveling her eyes on those belonging to the other woman.

There was a whole world between them, rife with promise and possibility that Cat saw reflected back at her in Kara’s eyes before she drew her in.  Her kiss was gentle, surrounding Kara’s lips and holding her there with a tender knead of her fingertips. It was the purest thing Kara felt, the sentiment behind it barreling into her as strong as any touch of life ever could.  

When she breathed, her lungs were filled with the other woman made vapor, until Cat drew out her exhale as they separated.  Kara felt her mouth wanting to move, throat trying to formulate words fueled from her heart until her mind interjected and kept her silent.  Cat nosed her features, pulling their bodies together with the wrap of her arms, feeling Kara immerse herself into her embrace with a profound, shuddering breath.

“I… have a confession.” Cat murmured, feeling Kara tense somewhat but not enough to draw away. Instead, she nudged her cheek against Cat’s neck waiting for her to continue.  “I don’t like the idea of sleeping alone anymore…”

Kara’s arms tightened around the other woman, wanting to stay over so badly, to take Cat up on the offer.  Except she had no way of knowing just how comfortable she might get in the other woman’s presence.  When the intention was to stay up all night with each other there was no need for explanations by the morning, no matter what the dawn unveiled. Actually sleeping with one another seemed far more intimate and in its own way daunting. There was no way Kara would be able to justify why or how she was hovering above the bed in her sleep if Cat woke up before her. 

Unless.

“Cat…?”

The authority of Kara’s voice set the other woman on edge, her heart fluttering about painfully. She felt Kara’s body shift, her spine aligning as she began to square her shoulders, prompting Cat’s hands to slide along her body and down.

“There’s something...”  Even her tone had changed, the depth of confidence enveloping it made Cat’s breath catch as her fingertips came to rest on Kara’s body against the line of her hips. “I need to-”

“Aunt Kitty!?” Lena’s voice broke through the quiet along with the shutting of the door down below. It echoed up through the house, along with a much quieter series of colorful words as Lena actually remembered what time it was and that Carter was probably in bed already.

Kara's shoulders lowered and the hand rising to strip her glasses from her face was redirected just beneath Cat's chin, her entire demeanor transforming in those fragile seconds.

“I need to tell you... that your niece, has impeccable timing.” Her tone was thinner, brimming with sarcasm as Cat furrowed her brow, wondering what Kara was waiting for until the other woman leaned in and kissed her.

“Oh good you're lights are still on-oh God fuck me not again!”

Cat couldn't help the laugh that erupted between them and fell into Kara's throat past her smile before the two spit apart reluctantly while a quiet string of curses wafted down the hall.

“You're awful.” Cat scolded around an actual giggle as Kara wiggled her eyebrows just for added emphasis before Cat thumped her chest.

“I'm hungry,” Kara growled playfully, drawing Cat in for another deeper kiss that inundated them both with another wave of arousal until Cat forced herself to step back.

“God-just.. wait…” Cat huffed out a breath, keeping the flat of her hand on Kara's chest to keep her at bay.  All the while wondering how in any world the other woman could just reduce her to a lustful mess of a thing just from kissing her.

“I'm going to go now…” Kara mused, running her thumb with a tender pressure over the other woman's shoulder forcing Cat to bite back a groan.

“You better…” Cat breathed, fingers flexing with a meaningful intent. “Or we're going to scar her for life and I'm not  going to care.”

Kara pressed forward at the playful tease, watching Cat hold her other hand up in warning to stop.  Not wanting to miss the opportunity while she still felt so bold Kara snagged Cat's hand, drawing it up to her mouth before teasing a single digit between her teeth with a flick of her tongue.

“Kara….” The other woman hummed dangerously and Cat pressed hard against her chest, provoking Kara to release her with a noise of concession.

“Sweet dreams Cat.”  

“Ooh....fuck you…” She uttered under her breath as Kara slipped away and out of sight knowing there would be very little sleeping now.

“Eat first,” Kara answered back halfway down the hall before making her way down the stairs.

Cat set a hand on her chest, trying to calm the thundering muscle beneath and the accompanying pulsations of arousal across her nerves from the core of her body. She wrapped a hand around her mouth, wanting to scream and laugh at the same time. The more demanding, neglected, carnal part of herself begging for her to drag Kara back into her bed.

She let out another heady breath, catching Lena's voice no doubt apologizing, followed by Kara's briefly until the closing of the door silenced the house momentarily. Cat turned and sat down on the bed, her hands running through her hair before she laid back, careful of the tray just beside her shoulder. Staring at the ceiling she tried to will the chill from outside into her body in order to calm it into a more temperate state.

“Aunt Kitty?”

“Yes?”

Lena peeked around the doorway, cheeks red against the pallor of her skin.  

“I'm so sorry. Really, I should have called or-”

“Evangelena… do me a favor.”

“Anything.”

“One, stop apologizing, you live here too for now.” Cat sat up, taking the plate of food from the tray and offering it up. “Two, could you heat this up for me? If you didn't eat, I'm sure there's plenty in the refrigerator for you.”

“S-sure Aunt Kitty, again I’m-”

“It's alright just remember Carter's asleep.”  Cat watched Lena nod before disappearing into the hallway. She reached for her wine glass before picking up the tray to set it elsewhere, only just now catching sight of another glass and a wine bottle beside it. She nearly dropped the tray seeing the same wine she had set out for her interview with Supergirl. Driven by instinct Cat turned, heading to the balcony just to be sure. She pushed the drapes aside, half expecting the red of the other woman’s cape to ripple just outside.

Instead, dark clouds and heavy rain greeted her and for a split second, she almost considered calling out for the other woman like she had the day before. She took a hearty swallow of her wine just as Lena returned and pulled her attention. The drapes were back in place, with the next crack of lightning across the clouds. Cat never did see Supergirl's silhouette against the sky from where she hovered.


	40. Preparation Meets Opportunity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CatCo's Magazine launch event gets under way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super thanks to ChupeyDupey for the beta and poking my brain a bit when it stutters.
> 
> And for any interested, I couldn't help but listen to [ Edwin Collins' "Never Known A Girl Like You Before](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFGqpeJltBk), and [Vitamin String Quartet covers of pop/rock songs ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLs_-SXZGqE&list=PLgA5dxCUfa5gALuLMQKfoKZSJuRlML00o&index=1)

_“I'll see you tonight.”_

Kara's words from earlier today when she had absconded with Carter still resonated with Cat even hours later. As did the goodbye kiss that promptly worked Cat up into full wakefulness right after. Even now more than half the day gone, as she was putting the finishing touches of her makeup on, the phantoms of unspoken sentiments between them still lingered.  She leaned back to give herself a once-over, smoothing her hand over her abdomen and felt the raging swirl of butterflies turned b-52 bombers spreading out across her nerves.

The anticipation of the night's events didn't hold a candle to wanting to see the other woman with and without her cape tonight  “ _You are a hopeless idiot_ ,” her internal voice teased causing her to grin. She reached over to her vanity, gathering up her earrings and a few choice items before walking out to her bedroom.  As she turned towards her closet she caught a splash of color not usually seen on her balcony.

Her heart began racing all over again, as she slid open the glass door and stepped out to the small nearby table. At its center was a wine bottle, bound with at least a dozen different kinds of flowers in a lattice of cotton twine with a small card set just under the edge to hold it in place.

She reached out and plucked the card from its place, the flutter of her heart aching in her chest as a slow grin spread across her lips.

_“Congratulations. See you this evening. -A Friend”_

With a deep breath and a slight shake of her head, she pulled at the front of her jacket, tucking the card into the breast pocket just inside before snatching the bouquet and heading back in.  She turned the bouquet around on her vanity, searching for the perfect accent before cutting it free and slipping it into the buttonhole of her jacket, pinning it from underneath so it wouldn’t fall out.

“Austin’s here!” Lena shouted from the bedroom she had taken over since landing in National City.

“Thank you.” Cat allowed, straightening up as she checked her lines and adjusted herself accordingly; setting those few items from earlier into her clutch and snapping it shut before heading towards her niece’s room.

When Lena stepped into the hall in a flow of royal purple and iridescent emerald, fitted around her with ornate brass toned arm cuffs and a matching belt, Cat stopped completely.  Lena’s hair was braided across the opposite shoulder, exposing the shorn side of her hair. Clearly, she had woven in extensions as the braid ended around her shoulder and cascaded free down just past her waist.  When she saw her aunt stop she couldn’t help but frown, stepping closer with a rustle of satin trailing behind her.

“What?  Is something..” Lena twisted slightly, checking herself with a ripple of the angel sleeves that gave one the impression she actually had gossamer wings.

“When did you grow up?” Cat asked with an air of nostalgia, fixing a small snag around Lena’s belt as she turned back around.

“I think maybe an hour ago?” Lena stated honestly, the weight of the statement she was making towards her mother and her brother’s ridiculous legacy having settled into her the moment she stepped out of the shower.  As the hours drew closer, Lena realized she would be drawing a line in the proverbial sand and standing with her aunt opposite them.

“You look...” Lena started, looking at Cat’s choice of attire and the seamless line of black she made from pointed patent toe tip all the way up to the slim padded square of her shoulders.  The dinner jacket was tailored perfectly even with its single button closure. The wide, notched satin flare of her lapels accentuated the v-cut of bare skin where a vest or shirt should have been. Lena also took note of the small gold chain that crossed over the round of her collarbones.

“Like some modern twist on a prince.”

“Good.” Cat laughed, pulling Lena along as she made for the stairs.  She already knew her competitors were all headed up by men, from presidents to founders and other CEO’s. She figured for this she would again make sure to turn everything a little bit on its head, starting with her wardrobe choice.

“One last thing,” Cat stated as she shrugged on her coat, pulling her hair free and reaching into her pocket.  She ran her thumb over the heavy box there before waving Lena closer as she wrapped herself up in a velvet shawl.

“Your mother will notice the statement you’re making tonight. I can’t promise I’ll be around when she confronts you, or how available I’ll be in general. I want you to know that I support you no matter what.”  She pulled the heavy box out, opening it up and removing the necklace Lillian had given her. After her behavior with Supergirl on her balcony at CatCo and the implications she continued to read in the Planet, Cat knew she couldn’t wear it herself.

“Your mother gave me this as a kind of peace offering, although I don’t think she actually understands what that really means. If I wear it, it’s a signal to her not only that I’ve conceded to her way of thinking but that I agree with whatever she believes is right for the world this time. Which I don’t.”

The necklace itself was a simple chain that clasped in the back, with two seven prong bell caps surrounding either end of what looked like a multifaceted Colombian emerald.  The flaws in the stone were beyond apparent but Cat merely assumed due to its size they were meant to accent the cut of the stone, not remove value from it.

“But if I wear it…?”  Cat moved around her niece, setting the stone within the shallows of where her collarbones met.

“She’ll know I’m telling her to fuck off.”

Lena couldn’t help the laugh and scandalized tone of her voice. “Aunt Kitty!”

Cat smirked, easing Lena’s hair back into place before turning her around and looking at the picture her niece presented.  “She’ll know I stand with you and whatever choices you’re making for yourself and your life right now. Is that alright with you?”

“Alright?” Lena practically lept at her Aunt, wrapping her up in a firm hug. “It’s more than alright.” She had no idea what was going to happen or how her mother would respond, but this last little gesture just added a bit more confidence in her decisions. “Thank you, Aunt Kitty, I mean it.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” Cat hugged her back gently before pulling back, hands rubbing at Lena’s arms, careful not to unsettle her dress. “Now, let’s get going before we’re any later than we are.”

 

**\-------**

 

Marsdin sat comfortably in her limo, the white and gold of her dress tucked behind the plush depths of her coat as she waited. Her security detail was just outside, discussing details and protocol until another series of federal vehicles pulled up and circled the vacated parking garage level.

“Finally.” She stated, knocking twice on the window for the nearest agent to open her door. She stepped out a moment after, drawing her coat closer around her shoulders to ward off the chill in the air.

Henshaw was out first, dressed in all black save for a small red square set in the pocket of his suit jacket.  Marsdin rose her brow when she saw the awkward teenager following him out. He was accompanied by a rather imposing woman who almost appeared to be wearing armor underneath her accents of leather. The fourth member of this little team gave Olivia the most pause, as Agent Vasquez stepped out in what appeared to be her standard tac-gear. The seal of the D.E.O. was emblazoned across the left of her chest, pulling the Secretary’s attention.

“Director Henshaw… where is Director Prince?”

“She’ll be meeting us on site.  Something to do with her date and the Director’s inability to promise she wouldn’t bombard you with questions or something.”

The Secretary smirked, her head tipping to the side a bit as she took into account the youngest member of this little team. “And you are?”

“Winslow Schott Jr, ma’am.” He held out his hand after a small nudge from Vasquez to his shoulder. “I prefer Winn.”

Olivia easily recognized the name, her jaw shifting slightly as her eyes lifted to Hank and back down to the young man before she took his hand and shook it firmly. The corner of her mouth lifting with his equally measured grip.

“I take it you’re not coming along?” She stated with gentle amusement, seeing as he was in plain clothes befitting a sixteen-year-old.

“NO, no... I.. that would be amazing but too many people-uh... No, ma’am, I’m going to be your security team’s eye in the sky for the event under Sus-er... Agent Vasquez’s direction here.”

Olivia caught the snicker to her right from one of her security offices, noting Vasquez’s own disdainful glare before Olivia made it a point to look at the man directly.  His smirk fell away almost immediately and when she didn’t look away after a ten count he shuffled uncomfortably.

After another five seconds, she turned her attention back to Winn giving him a warm smile so that he might continue.

“Each of our agents is fitted with a transmitter, in conjunction with a few other systems that were implemented this morning for overall security of the event. We’ll have a perfect layout of the room itself. With each agent sweep and position relaying intel to the next agent or the prior agent depending.  If there are changes or variations in the environmental parameters that we’ve set up, this system will be able to alert us. That info will then be conveyed to nearby agents for response.”

Winn nodded, before offering her a small flat box.  

“There’s also facial recognition software cross-referenced with the list of people Director Henshaw gave me so your team won’t need to use those photo index cards that I saw at your last event speech.  If any one of those listed individuals have managed to make it into the building the nearest agents will be notified along with a cascade alert system, as well as additional law enforcement officials or cooperating agencies like ours-”

Olivia held up her hand, causing Winn to falter a bit and stop before she looked back over to the agent who had been snickering before. She nodded towards Winn with a ‘get a load of this’ kind of expression,  as she took the box.

“You came up with all of this?” She asked looking back at him. Vasquez smirked somewhat proudly, while Astra broadened her shoulders and Hank straightened tall in a similar expression of pride.

“Ye...well I had help, but the concept... Overall yes.” He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. “There should be enough for you and your team, there are other features and Ha...Director Henshaw can explain it simpler for your men on the way.”

Olivia had to hold back her laugh before giving a firm nod to him, gaze shifting to Vasquez briefly.

"Glad to see you are doing better than when I last saw you.”

Vasquez remained in her at ease stance, save for the hand she hand on Winn’s shoulder, squeezing supportively. “Thank you. I’ll be full duty ready within the month Madam Secretary.”

“Olivia, please.” She saw Vasquez nod before looking at the only woman at the same height as herself.  Her leather jacket was weathered and clearly not her own. Whatever top she had on beneath indeed appeared to be made of anodized metal in the form of what could best be described as scale mail.  She rose a brow, assuming it was merely an illusion of plastic sequins, taking note of the leather pants and less than formal boots the woman had on before lifting her eyes back up. At least her hair and makeup were done in such a way as to be fitting for the event.

“And you are?”

“Sentinel.” Hank pulled Olivia’s attention with the moniker, seeing her incredulous expression. Even Astra rose an eyebrow at that one. “She’s a friend of Supergirl’s that is going to maintain a constant presence during the event.”

“So the girl of steel is not joining us then?”

“Not actively no. She has other matters to tend to apparently but rest assured she will be there.”

Olivia hmm’d, handing the small box over to her lead agent on the right. “Distribute these.” She pointed out three agents, including the one who had found everything so amusing moments ago. “You three will accompany Agent Vasquez and Winn here back to their command post. Learn this system and aid however they see fit.”

“Yes, ma’am.” They answered in unison before Olivia inclined her head back to her limo.

“If the rest of you will join me?”

Astra paused only momentarily to whisper something to Winn. He smiled and nodded at her before she squeezed his shoulder, following behind Hank into the waiting vehicle.

 

**\-------**

 

Lillian stepped out of her limo, Lex easily guiding her by the hand until she was free of the car. The pair of them looked the perfect part of aristocracy.  Lillian with her hair up with a neoclassical flare, drawing attention to the line of her jaw and Romanesque profile. The emerald tones of her dress set off her eyes and skin tone while her heels made her a giant among the crowd given her six-foot stature without them.  The best and worst part of it all was that Lillian relished in it. There was nothing more intimidating than a woman who could see over all of the big boys in a room.

Lex looked equally impeccable despite being a few inches shorter. The red of his hair coifed in such a manner as to make it appear like liquid fire. A feature that was further accentuated by the fitted cut of his dark charcoal suit, its razor-sharp angles trimmed with gold accents and matching tie. 

“Hear that mother…" He leaned in, causing another array of camera lights to cast their shadows on others arriving around the two of them. "They’re already calling our names.”  

Indeed, many of the press outlets that were there to cover the event were shouting at them, asking about LexCorp and the implications of the articles recently printed in the Daily Planet about it and her.

Lillian offered a tight smile and eased along with the rest of the rabble towards the lobby, flashbulbs surrounding the pair of them without remorse. Lex set a hand gently against the bare expanse of her back, gesturing for her to proceed ahead of him as he wrangled their invitations from inside his coat once they were finally free of the initial paparazzi.

“I do so hope you enjoy the whole of the evening mother, I have a feeling it’s going to be an event no one is going to forget.”

Lillian shifted her jaw thoughtfully she already knew of the little gift she had given her sister and thought that was the extent of their entertainment for the evening. Given Alexander's giddy nature he had clearly added to the plan without informing her and with his track record on the last endeavor, she wasn't exactly holding her breath.

“We shall see.”

They stepped up to the receiving line, their names validated as they passed through a broad range metal detector put in place due to some of the invited guests. Once clear they were ushered via their designated hotel staffer towards the elevators.

“Honestly Diana, I wouldn’t have asked her anything devastating to your reputation or-.”

“Lois, I love you beyond any measure you could know, and when I say what I’m about to, I say it with love…” Diana shifted in her seat, looking at Lois straight on. “You just can’t help yourself.”  The taller of the two saw the ensuing protest and leaned over, kissing the words silent with a small grumble of a sound before Lois relaxed.

“You’re here for work, I’m here for work, try not to get escorted out. I’m not sure my clearance levels can get you back in.”

“Such a charmer.” Lois teased and let out a sigh. “Alright, I promise I’ll rein it in… a bit.”

“And try not to lose it when Supergirl shows up.  This is National City and Cat Grant’s domain. The last thing I need is the headache of you two going at it from across the country with one another.”

Lois laughed just as their door opened, crossing over Diana’s lap purposefully and stealing a kiss along the way.

“We would never, not without a set of mutually agreed terms and conditions, with the overall understanding that the ROI for both CatCo and the Planet reach over twenty percent. Otherwise, it’s not really worth the headache.”

Lois stepped out of the limo, adjusting her dress before stepping aside to allow Diana to follow her.  The taller woman stepped onto the waiting pavement, looking like a goddess right out of the Greek pantheon.  Lois tucked easily into her side, her own dress fitting like a glove in stark contrast to her companions near ethereal fluidity as they pair made their way through the throng of flashbulbs.

“Do me one more favor?” Diana’s voice turned serious as she retrieved her earpiece from under the shoulder of her dress and pushed it into place. She already had her credentials at the ready in order to get through security. Lois pulled out her invitation in order to make it inside, knowing that once they crossed the great hall doors Diana would need to check in with her team of secret service agents.

“Anything… within reason.” Lois smiled, although the depths of it faltered when Diana’s expression remained as serious as her voice had begun.

“Be careful tonight.  I know, I said I would respect the articles you produce for the Planet, but the last few,” Diana drew in a deep breath. “Rich people can be dangerous, rich people with private corporations and government contract rights are deadly.”

Lois actually frowned, stepping closer to Diana, nearly having to lean back in order to look at her properly given their height difference.  She reached up, touching the side of the woman’s face, forcing her to look down at her as Lois searched out her eyes.

“There’s something more you’re not telling me isn’t there?”  Diana kept her features impassive, although the involuntary flex of her jaw seemed to be enough of an answer for Lois.  “And you know you can’t, not because of me or us, but because of your job and things you’ve found out…”

“Lois…”

The woman shook her head gently. “It’s alright. You don’t have to answer that.  I knew what I was getting into when we met.” Lois smiled warmly. “You warned me the first day.”  She drew in a deep breath, squaring her shoulders and swallowing back the slight twinge of fear she felt touch her spine.  “I’ll figure it out on my own, most likely after you save the world or something. If you want to talk about it after that point, I’m all ears, if not… I’m still going to be right here.”

Diana let out a slow breath, drawing Lois to her and wrapping her up tightly, feeling the smaller woman practically bury herself into her.

_“Hawk is a block out. Repeat, Hawk is a block out.”_

Lois smirked hearing the call out over Diana’s comm before leaning back. “That’s your cue.”

“I love you.”

“Love you too… have fun.”

“Behave.” Diana offered back before activating her comm system for two way communication. “Evening Winn. Do we all have codenames this evening or is it just for Secretaries of State?”  Diana smirked as she heard the young man sputter a bit before Vasquez took over.

“Merely following Secret Service call sign protocol. Ma’am.”

“Understood. I’m just beyond the northeast corner of the first security checkpoint. Lobby floor. Transmitter active, confirm camera systems are synced.”

“Confirmed. We read and see you loud and clear Director.”

Within short order Diana caught sight of Hank and Astra, trying to remain impassive in her expression as they were waved through security in order to meet up with her.  Just outside the lobby doors the flashbulbs and shouts grew exponentially.

“You both clean up nice.” Diana offered, taking particular interest in Astra and how she almost looked normal.  If you removed that ever-present stoicism from every fiber of her being. “No photo-ops?”

Hank grumbled as he radioed to agents positioned throughout the hotel before looking out over the lobby.  

 _“We were asked to remove ourselves after ruining several attempts at photographs.”_ Astra supplied when Hank didn’t answer, causing Diana to laugh aloud.

“They’re lucky I didn’t make them think I was a giant spider or something equally terrifying.”

“Yes because we want a panic on our hands.” Diana continued to chuckle, her smile remaining as Secretary Marsdin finally made her way into the hotel itself, stopping much to the chagrin of her secret service detail to interact with random citizens on her way towards them.

“Just a heads up, if anyone asks.” Hank nodded towards Astra. “Sentinel, she’s a friend of Supergirl’s.”

Diana looked at Astra who merely shook her head before the three of them turned to the approaching Secretary.

“Ah, there you are Director Prince.”

“Secretary Marsdin, so nice to see you again.”

“As I’ve told my agents, you’re my special guests and I’m here as a favor to Cat Grant and to actually enjoy myself outside of the political trappings of Washington even if just for one night.   Let’s try to remember that?”

Diana smirked giving a solid nod. “I’ll do what I can but as I’m sure Director Henshaw told you, we make no promises.”

“Fair enough.”  

The trio parted to allow her through, flanking her from behind while her security detail spread out in an attempt to look less obvious. Two agents made it ahead of her into the elevator waiting for them, followed by Astra, Hank, and Diana before Olivia stepped inside holding a hand up to the four other agents that made to join them.

“You boys can take the next one…” She smiled genuinely watching their faces as the doors shut between them.

 

**\-------**

 

“How the hell did I let you talk me into this,” Alex whined as Kara finished with her hair, making sure some of Alex’s more extravagant style choices were present even if minimally.

The length of it had been pulled back from her face in a kind of messy knotted array with twists and braided bits and pieces throughout.  Two large braids started near her temples beneath the tease of twists and went the full length behind her shoulders while a series of smaller ones pulled along either side of her head and into the fuller lengths of her hair left in waves.

“This cannot possibly be how you styled your hair back home.”

“No, and technically I shouldn’t have done yours like this.”

“What’s that mean?”

“On Krypton… different houses, different guilds had set appearances for things like this.  It was very ceremonial but it was also very predictable. There were a lot of things that we didn’t really mix up, I guess is the right word.”

“Kara are you like dishonoring-”

“No, no... it’s just if we were on Krypton you would probably be part of the Science Guild.  And you would never have your hair done like this.” Alex turned finally from her place on the bed, watching Kara settle onto the mattress from where she had been hovering. “It would be pinned back and braided in a few places maybe, depending on your position, but mostly just left more conservative.”

Alex tipped her head slightly, watching her sister struggle a bit before leaning down to pull her attention. “What style did you choose instead?”

Kara took a deep breath, pulling on the memories of when Astra would come to her before some event back on Krypton. Telling her the meaning and reason behind each element as she taught Kara how to braid or style her hair.

“It was reserved for women in the Military Guild.”

“Kara…” Alex scooted closer to her sister, taking her hands and holding them together in her lap. “Listen, I know, things are all over the place and your Aunt is still working with the others at that place, but that doesn’t mean you’re cut off from her or anything.  I mean I’m really flattered you think-”

“You are a warrior Alex, don’t sell yourself short.” Kara squeezed her sister’s hands gently. “Besides, I don’t think Astra would let me do it anyway even if I asked.  Too many memories for her… for us both. With you, it’s like passing on something new while still holding on to the importance of it…”

Alex pulled Kara to her then, hugging her tightly. All manner of thoughts running through her mind, each circling back to Astra before she felt Kara squeeze back and the two slipped apart.

“Tonight’s going to be interesting.” Alex allowed, watching Kara nod. “Do you even know what you’re going to do when-”

“When Supergirl has to show up?  Not exactly, there’s going to be so many people there, getting away won’t be the problem.”

“Not being seen might, all those important people come with all those important security details.”

Kara rubbed her face a bit. “I know, but I also know Diana and Hank will be there. They’ll be able to cover somewhat.  Winn told me that it’s the D.E.O.’s security system everyone is using so I think I’ll be alright.”

“Think is not exactly certain is it?.”  Alex worried her bottom lip a bit, trying to keep her smile at bay. “How are you going to explain it to Miss Kitty?”

Kara actually let out an incredulous laugh before hurling a pillow at Alex, causing her to double over onto her back with a laugh.

“I knew I shouldn’t have said anything!”

“You didn’t have to, that dress alone is going to put her on her knees.”

“Oh my god Alex!”

Her sister couldn’t help the string of laughter that erupted from her as Kara tried to smother her with the pillow. Alex loudly protested Kara was going to screw up her makeup as she held the pillow away from her face.  The second Kara had stood in that long blue sequined dress that matched her eyes, Alex had known it was the one.

Kara had worried it was too much despite how it fit her figure as if it had been made for her. The neckline was plunging, the straps thin enough that her sister was afraid she’d break them accidentally just by putting it on.  Alex argued she wore too many layers anyway, that if she had arms and shoulders like that, not to mention everything Kara had to offer from the backside she’d walk around naked all the time.

“You’re awful.”

“Look I’ll be honest, I got my dress because you promised you’d buy that one.  You know I wouldn’t be caught dead in that thing but I’m telling you, Kara…” She made a motion as if her mind her exploding. Kara couldn’t help but roll her eyes, pulling Alex up with her before she bounced off the bed.

“We’re going to be late enough as it is if we don’t get dressed.”

“Anything you want me to do with your hair?” Alex questioned genuinely, getting off the bed and heading through the bathroom to her room.

“No..” Kara sighed. “Aside from helping me pin some of it up after I get it braided. I always have my hair down when I’ve got the cape on so leaving it is just asking for trouble.”

Kara slipped out of the oversized shirt she was wearing taking in a deep breath as she pulled the dress from the hanger and stepped into it, mindful of the straps until it was in place.  Looking at herself in the mirror she combed her fingers through her hair with a short burst of super speed. It was swept away from her face save for a few pieces here and there, with wide twists that braided together seamlessly and left the rest of her hair to cascade down her shoulders and across the open back of her dress.

She knew why she was wearing this dress, Alex didn’t have to convince her of it as much as she had pretended at the time.  Kara had no idea if she or Cat would even have more than a few moments with one another considering it was all about CatCo and Supergirl. She wasn’t even sure if she would come back after her little special appearance.  That had given her enough reason to ensure the first impression she gave was of who she really was, not the elevated persona she had to step into.

That and the second Alex swore she’d wear the dress Kara had tried to buy for her if she bought the blue one had merely sealed the deal.  

“Have you seen my leather jacket?”  Alex came back through, shoes hooked over her fingers.  She looked like something from Kara’s homeworld for a split second. The one-shoulder neckline red dress that fit around her like a flower petal before blooming just past her hips to the floor, coupled with how she had fixed her hair flooded Kara with a such a sense of nostalgia that she missed the question.

“Wha.. uhm.. Which one?”

“The one without all the studs.”

Kara shook her head. “Here.” She turned and grabbed a better-suited jacket from her rack of clothes and tossed it Alex’s way. “Just wear this one.”  Kara pulled her own coat from the rack, thankful for its length as she tied it around her waist and hid within it. “We gotta go. I don’t even know if we’ll be able to get a cab and I can’t exactly fly us there like-”

She was interrupted by the gentle knock on the door, pulling both of their attention as they grabbed purses and various items on their way.  Kara reached the door first, while Alex shut off the lights, knowing whoever it was would just have to come back later or follow them down.

“Ms. Danvers?”

Kara rose a brow as Alex stumbled beside her while fitting her shoe on.

“Which one?”

The man looked concerned for a moment. “Kara?”

“That’s me.”

“Okay, I was worried I had the wrong apartment.  My name is Parker., Ms. Grant sent me to take you to the Seraphim for her party tonight.”

Kara and Alex looked at one another before Alex took off running to the nearby windows and couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her.

“She sent you a limo…” Alex came rushing back over, grabbing her own set of keys and nudging her sister to get a move on and follow the man.

“She sent -us- a limo you dork. Lock the door and let’s go.” Alex giggled, pulling the door shut and locking it tight as Parker made his way ahead of them.  Kara couldn’t help the blush that touched her cheeks, even with the teasing of her sister just behind her about how Cat was a smitten kitten.

“There’s water and other drinks in the fridge, Miss Grant made sure it was also stocked with food in case the meal at the event isn’t sufficient or the chance you missed dinner, which I promise I will get you there on time for.”

“Thank you, Parker, I’m sorry if you’ve been waiting-”

“No worries Miss Danvers. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.” He offered with a warm smile before closing the door behind the two of them.

“This thing is nearly as big as our apartment!” Alex exclaimed while Kara sat back in the cushion of the leather seats, toying with her bottom lip and the smile leveled on it with a small shake of her head.

“Cat.. what am I going to do with you..” she uttered to herself as Alex raided the fridge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 40 chapters and 200,000 words... Not sure I could do that again if I tried.


	41. When the Night has Come and the Land is Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Alex's arrival has unexpected results forcing Cat to put an end to a thorn in her side in front of everyone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to ChupeyDupey for the betas!
> 
> Long chapter this...
> 
> All I could listen to the entire time I wrote this was this version of [Stand By Me as performed by Bootstraps](http://youtubeonrepeat.com/watch/?v=WRO5XAGDb5w)

As the limo pulled up Kara felt the undeniable twist of winged ones dive bombing her insides while Alex finished munching on one of the many items she had tried on their trek there.  They were late and Kara already knew their absence at that one particular table would be noticed almost immediately by Cat.

“I’ll be in the lower level garage, I’ll leave the space at the front desk should you require my services.” Parker offered before he exited the front in order to help both women out of the car. “Miss Grant’s request.”

Alex made a face as Kara shouldered her onward, the pair of them leaving their jackets.

“Spared no expense.” Alex teased as Kara rolled her eyes and took Parker’s hand to step out, followed by her sister.  Without warning, they were instantly bombarded with a multitude of flashbulbs and requests for each of them to turn and look.  Alex couldn’t help the grin and a bit of mugging as Kara urged her forward. Thankful they weren’t the only stragglers as they stepped into the lobby.   

“My god this place is insane,” Alex said looking up as they moved across marble tiles. There were winged statues everywhere, accents of gold and gilded archways enough to make one think they had arrived at a palace instead of a hotel.

Kara fished out their invitations as they made their way to the security area and onward with their designated staffer towards the elevators.  Once inside the transport, Alex couldn’t help the comment about how they were bigger than the ones at Pharros. All Kara could think about was Cat.  What was she going to look like? Would she be the CatCo version of herself times ten given the situation? Or would she be the inviting, playful version of herself that Kara had left this morning?  

In the ride to towards the grand hall, she wondered how she was supposed to behave.  Like her usual self just without Carter around? More reserved and aloof? Brazen and tactile? Ninety percent of the people beyond those elevator doors had a higher station in life than she could reach even flying. Was she supposed to pretend like she belonged or stand out knowing she didn’t?  

Making an appearance as Supergirl was easy.  There was a cape and a mask and a suit and the ability to fly.  The extraordinary made a reality. Kara Danvers was just Cat Grant’s nanny.  She felt her breath hitch slightly, she knew she was more than that. She knew she was more than that to Cat and Carter and herself.  They hadn’t had the chance to talk about this, to talk about them and what they were or how they were supposed to act around one another.  It wasn’t as if Kara hadn’t dated before or been involved with someone romantically but this wasn’t just someone. This was Cat Grant, the reigning Queen of National City and what with CatCo’s connection to Supergirl right from the start, she and her corporation were fast-tracking it well beyond the city itself and across the rest of the world.  

“Just breathe.” Alex broke through her thoughts, setting a hand on her sister’s arm before turning her around to look at her.  “I know you, stop thinking, just be you. If Cat’s anything like she’s pretended not to be, she’ll take the lead. Where she can’t, I know you will.”

Kara took a deep breath then, letting it out slowly before her sister pulled her closer, touching their foreheads together briefly enough to ground one another until Kara startled back a bit. Alex knew instantly what Kara had felt, could see it in her eyes and just as she started to ask the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

They started down the hall a few steps until Kara stopped, causing her sister to do the same a step after.

“Listen... Kara, there’s... that’s not.” Alex shook her head unable to find the words only to find her sister’s hand in her own, squeezing tightly.  Alex smiled tightly, the last thought on her mind having been Astra before Kara and she had parted and with it no doubt the hurt emotions that had followed it.  “We’ll talk, I promise, not right now, now is not about that or her. It’s about... this amazing party in this beautiful place.” Alex leaned in. “Because of you.  Or did you forget that little tidbit?”

Kara actually straightened, that correlation having completely slipped her mind somewhere between agreeing to that interview and accepting the invitation as both parts of herself.

“Oh shit…”

Alex couldn’t help but laugh a bit, nudging her sister.  “Yeah, this is -all- for you…”

“Oh, I wish you hadn’t-”

“Stop. I didn’t say it to make it worse… just, use it.”

“What?”

“Use it, Kara.  Seriously, this is all for you. No matter how you look at it, either as you here with me now or as Supergirl.”

Kara let out another exhale with a puff of her cheeks, a hand rubbing the back of her neck as she let that settle in.

“Cat’s the one behind it. I know you haven’t told her yet, I’m sure something like that wouldn’t have slipped your mind to tell me about.  Cat has it bad for you, this you and that other you. You should find a way to be honest with her sooner rather than later. Even if she is this worldwide seeking media mogul.”

Kara took a deep breath in again, feeling her spine straighten and her shoulders broaden out involuntarily as the barest hint of a smile touched her lips.  She swore in Kryptonese before breathlessly laughing, looking down the length of that hall that only a moment ago had seemed to go on for miles.

“Thank you.” She said honestly, looking at Alex before abruptly hugging her with a small oof of a sound from the younger woman. “I needed that.”

“What’re sisters for, I mean aside from blackmailing you with the threat of stories of when we were younger?”

“Watch where you step on that one.  How do you think I got so good at this whole nanny thing?”  

Alex grinned despite the ‘pft’ of a noise that she made in response.

“C’mon I’m actually hungry and I know you are.”

“Oh my gods, are you going to tease me all night?”

“I meant for actual food Kara…”

“Oh...yeah food.”

“C’mon.” Alex pulled on her to get Kara moving again. The pair easily passing through the brass gilded doors and onto the mezzanine.  Without prompt, Kara felt as if all the oxygen had been pulled from her lungs as she looked around, easily recognizing the setting and finding herself laughing breathlessly in disbelief of it.

“What?” Alex questioned as she stepped forward towards the stone railing.

“Flying…” Kara said softly, taking in all the decor, the surrounding of National City’s skyline through the windows. “When we went flying.” Her words were still breathless and mostly for herself.  She caught sight of her family crest throughout the room. However minimal, it was enough to pull at her heart and for the briefest of moments long for home, while a small voice in the farthest reaches of her mind told her the moment she found Cat she would be.

“Oh god.” Alex uttered, finally catching sight of the banner sized cover of CatCo’s premier issue from at least four points in the room. “When the fuck did you take those pictures and why didn’t you tell me?!”

Kara blinked back the edge of tears, looking at Alex with a furrow of her brow before Alex turned her enough to see the one nearest them.  As soon as she saw it she felt her heart leap into her throat and threaten to choke her into unconsciousness.

It was a shot through her office window, she would know the angle anywhere.  Zoomed in, with the backdrop of National City but there she was lifesized and on display.  It was one thing to look at yourself in a mirror or even a passing window reflection, this was something entirely different. To the point where even Kara had to marvel at how the suit really did manage to show off just how much Astra had pushed and trained her body in tone alone.

She was hovering in full profile knee level with Cat’s balcony ledge, hair a wave in the wind, her cape unfurled behind her. Poised and proud and every ounce the Kryptonian defender of Earth as had been written about her.  That would have been enough to sell it, to showcase this ‘Supergirl Issue’ exclusive.

What she hadn’t counted on was seeing Cat just as polished and proud looking up at her with such awe and inspiration.  She embodied the perfect picture of grounded humanity opposite Supergirl’s god-like otherworldliness. Down to the stretch of Cat’s fingers inches from the crest at the center of her chest.  She barely even registered the gold text on the cover save for how it had been hidden behind the pair of them so as not to obscure the overall focus of the two of them staring at one another.

“She… she didn’t show me.” Kara swallowed, looking at the image all over again. “I told her to pick the best one… I didn’t think she would put herself out there with me. Not like that.”

Kara knew they would have to talk now, beyond their relationship, beyond the glasses and the cape and CatCo and everything else that entangled the pair of them together now. Even if they weren't involved Cat had branded herself with that sigil as if she were the one wearing it.

From down below Cat was holding court at her table, seeing as most of the guests were settled and tucked into conversation and food. She glanced at the pair of reserved seats standing vacant to her right trying not to let the weight of their emptiness show as she did. Her mind wondered if it was too much for Kara to negotiate and that she might appear as Supergirl before coming in and apologizing for her lateness. She already assumed Alexandra would take the fall citing some kind of emergency at the hospital.

She felt the faintest brush at her shoulder, pulling her attention around to find the culprit and finding empty air. Cat frowned momentarily, searching her immediate area for anyone outside her table that could have touched her.  Finding no one she turned back, taking another moment to look around just in case they had circled the table only to feel her entire body come to attention.

Astra continued on her patrol, having caught sight of Kara before her mate and taking it upon herself to nudge the human in the appropriate direction. She stepped aside easily enough, continuing as if she had never interfered before stepping behind one of the gilded lattices between archways. She glanced at the mother-son pair she had been in charge of keeping tabs on, confirming they were involved in their own conversation and had no intention of going anywhere as far as their body language indicated.  

With that temporary reprieve, she took her own moment to track the crimson flower of a thing walking beside her niece, only to feel her lungs cease to function once Alexandra came around the last column completely. She swallowed the stone in her throat, eyes tracking every twist, every braid, every reminder of her own life before Earth. How her own sister had bound and twisted her hair none too dissimilar from Alexandra's the day Astra had earned her rank and position within the council overseeing all of Krypton as its General.

Nostalgic memories floated through her mind’ss eye as she recalled how she had taught Kara the style of her previous rank. Intending on showing her the differences in the details of her promotion until their world had fallen to Cythonna’s hoarfrost. Seeing Alex navigating the mezzanine on full display as a Kryptonian lieutenant wrapped in red befitting the council guard, tore at her insides from her core outward.

Alexandra was a kind of redemption, an offering from Rao himself for her trials. At least that's how she felt when she allowed herself to. Despite the misunderstanding from nights prior between the two of them. This was not her world, she had no rank or attachment, not like her niece.  She was not the eldest matriarch of either house that Alexandra belonged to. There was Kara to contend with and her claim, unintentional or not, of Alexandra's place within the House of El to consider given their sisterly bond.

Then there was the House of Danvers. Where Kara might have been oblivious to some degree, her Earthen mother was not.  Eliza had pushed her to take action in regards to what she had witnessed between Alex and herself but Astra wasn't so sure if that meant here what it did on Krypton. Amidst all that Astra still didn't know how to reconcile the dishonor she felt with having marked Alexandra by kissing her. Carnal instinct had allowed her passions to overtake her will and restraint with such ferocity at that moment, she almost wondered if human pheromones had evolved at some point that she was unaware of.

Astra pulled in a slow deep breath, in spite of the ache rooting into her chest she forced her eyes away and back to her intended targets. Her voice was as stoic as ever as she notified Winn of the Danvers’ arrival over her comms. She heard Winn request Hank and Diana switch to another channel, no doubt informing the directors of Kara's arrival if nothing else.

Cat reached for her wine and thought better of it, snagging the water beside it instead, taking a throat full in an attempt to cool her insides off while her eyes followed Kara's every move.  She had thought that the suit the woman wore was tantalizing enough but it didn't hold a candle to the expanse of skin riding over the tone of muscles that flexed in all their naked glory as Kara moved.

She had become so accustomed to the layers of Kara's wardrobe, seeing the cling of that dress and its amplification of the woman's curves accentuated by so much skin felt downright sinful, even from this far away.  Supergirl couldn't even touch the figure that wove her way through the throng of people and tables pulling the attention of a multitude of people in her wake. Cat felt the swell of affection for the other woman on a possessive level. Where someone else might find jealousy brimming to the surface, Cat only felt the elation of smug pride. Let them stare and wonder, she thought, fantasize and theorize how to convince her to let anyone other than Cat herself take Kara home by evenings end.

They hadn't discussed the particulars of each other in a situation such as this and right now Cat didn't care. Save for what Kara felt comfortable with. Cat found herself rising pulling the attention of those around her as a voice in the back of her mind told her that if Kara wanted to bend her over the table she could find a hundred ways to spin it in her favor after going along with it all.  As soon as she stood Kara saw her, and her approach slowed. She adjusted her shoulders while her gaze surveyed Cat's own attire adding a deeper blush to the woman's cheeks.

They stared at one another, building a palpable thread of tension between them that made Cat white knuckle the back of her chair while Kara wet her lips before she bit at the full swell of her lower one.  As soon as she was within reach Cat grasped for the taller woman, fingers curling firmly around her forearm. Kara drew herself closer with the physical connection stepping into Cat's personal space, pressing what she could of herself against Cat's hip and thigh, before leaning down to her.

“You look good enough to eat right here,” Cat whispered while Kara apologized for being late with a promise of making it up to her before the two kissed. However fleeting, the barest tug of Kara's bottom lip as they parted made up for it. The kiss caused a murmur of conversation between those captivated by the two of them.

Cat finally recognized the woman with her, easing her hand from Kara's arm as she stepped aside just enough to allow Cat to touch Alex’s shoulder before placing a kiss on her cheek.

“Damn Cat, now I know why she wouldn't let me wear pants.”

“You clean up rather well yourself Alexandra, although I have to marvel at how you made it through security.” Referring to the delicate slivers of metal adorning the younger woman’s features.

Alex smiled regardless, stepping around the pair with a small nudge causing Kara to press up against Cat completely before she took her seat.  She glanced at the woman to her right, suddenly realizing she was seated next to Secretary Marsdin, who was still balancing her wine glass within her fingertips watching the display. She rose an eyebrow at Alex who gave a slight shrug.

“She's my sister.” As if that explained everything.

Cats hands were around Kara's hips while Kara had one of her own around Cat's upper arm. The eyes behind those glasses begging Cat not to move while Cat tried to smother a grin and flexed her thigh where it was practically holding the other woman up, forcing Kara to hold back a whimper.

“You planning on introducing us to your guests Kitty?” Olivia teased, causing the rest of the table to chuckle or shift with minute discomfort as Kara extracted herself from the other woman, easing into her own chair with an added push on Cat’s behalf before she reclaimed her own seat.

“Absolutely Liv. To my left, is the medical prodigy I was telling you about earlier, not even twenty-one” Cat snagged the wine glass right out of Alex's fingers, replacing it with water. “And already into her first year of residency at Pharros. Alexandra has already shown immense promise in her reviews from what I and the other board members have seen so far.”

Alex made a face while Olivia and the others chuckled.

“This,” Cat put her arm around the back of Kara's chair, thumb easing over the woman’s bare shoulder as she took a sip from Alex's wine glass. “Is her sister Kara, who's been taking care of my son and-”

“That's not all she's been taking care of.”

Kara stiffened at the voice that caused those at the table to turn. Even Alex sat up to the point where Cat reached over and put a hand on her leg to keep her from following through with the motion of standing.

Asher stood, just barely, draining the glass in his hand with one swallow before he dropped it off to a passing waiter.

“Funny, I don't recall seeing your name on the guest list.” Cat remarked looking him over. His suit was ill-fitted and his stagger let her know he was a good half a bottle in.  

“I don't recall you being one for the company of whores and fist happy bitches but I guess we can all change can't we.”

One of the men at the table made to rise only to have Cat shake her head before sitting further back in her chair as if sitting on a throne.

“Olivia, you remember my ex-husband Asher.”  

“Fuck you, Catherine.”  He laughed with a bitter edge then. “Oh wait, that’s her job.” He sneered gesturing to Kara.

The man’s outburst caught the attention of Lois from another table, along with others in the room. Lena was right beside her, willingly taking up Diana’s vacant seat given how she was working the room.  The two had been engaged in their own kind of catch-up conversation when the commotion with Kara had started. Both of them assuming any other sensationalism had been quelled once all the women at Cat’s table had been seated.

“Oh god help that man.” Lois uttered, leaning around a passing secret service agent casually making his way closer to Marsdin.

“Honestly Kit-Kat, how often do you pay her to look after your son, three, four times a night? Few times at the office when no one is watching. Even if they are I'm sure you'd either enjoy it or just fire them to keep their silence.”

Cat cut her eyes up to the man dangerously, she was more than willing to be amicable to a point.  

“First of all, I don't pay her nearly as much as I've had to pay the last three, oh sorry, four women who you thought wanted you for you and your money and lifestyle and extravagance. Women who had the joy of discovering time and time again that it wasn’t your money, it was my money they were lusting after.”  Cat squared her shoulders, drawing one foot up to rest on her opposite thigh while Kara eased her hand over and fanned it along Cat’s leg, squeezing gently as she remained seated beside her.

“I lost everything because-”

“Because I finally came to understand that you have always been threatened by my success, and you tried to elevate yourself by denigrating me. Which is fine, because I have to own the parts I played that ultimately allowed you to do that to me.  Right now, however, you don’t get to blame anyone but yourself for the conditions of your life as they stand. I am not the keeper of your character or your dick, never was.”

“Second,” Cat cut him off before he could get a word in. “You don’t get to talk to her like that. Let’s not forget that you were the one who hired her much to my chagrin at the time. She has never wavered in the excellence of her job, her integrity, or her loyalty first and foremost to the care and well-being of my son. The fact that she has even allowed me to attempt to even think about courting her when there are a thousand other people, half of which are no doubt in this room, better suited speaks more volumes to her character than you could hope for in a lifetime.”

Cat felt Kara’s fingers touching the hand at her own shoulder in full view of everyone watching. Without missing a beat Cat linked their digits together while Kara held her in place along the curve of muscle as she continued.

“You also don’t get to talk about her sister. That’s just for your own safety. She has a mean right hook as I’m sure you remember and I’m almost certain could eviscerate you ten ways from tomorrow before you could sober up.  You Asher, are a spoiled, backstabbing, opportunistic little imp who has refused to take responsibility for your life and the consequences wrought from your lack of control and maturity. If you were smart you’d turn around and leave.”

The next few seconds were a blur of motion starting with Asher lunging for his ex-wife. Kara stood in an instant, along with her sister, already set to grapple with the man before he could even think of getting ahold of Cat. Only to watch him get snatched by the back of the collar and hoisted bodily from the floor and around by Astra.

Marsdin’s secret service detail had barely moved as the woman folded his arms behind his back with a yelp of a sound and began escorting him almost effortlessly across the floor. Throwing him into the throng of agents rushing towards them to protect the secretary.

Nearby guests might have even caught the threat she left him with about no one being able to find all of his parts if he ever even thought about coming near Cat or her family before she seemed to just disappear behind the chaos.

Kara felt herself shaking, followed by a sickening feeling as if all her energy were being siphoned from her body and wavered slightly as a result. Cat was on her feet a second after, a hand flat on Kara's exposed back while others at the table told her to breathe and drink some water.

Olivia was assuring her agent’s she was fine while Alex tried to find Astra through the din of the room with no success.

“Is she alright?” Lena's voice drifted across the table where she and Lois were now standing. Both of them having rushed over the second they saw Asher move.

“I'm… I need some air if you'll all excuse me.” Kara slipped out of Cat's grasp with another apology, her legs faltering for another step or two as she rounded past Diana and Hank before making her way towards the balcony.    

The second fresh air hit her she felt more in control of herself, although there was a larger part of Kara that argued jumping off the balcony and flying it out. After a few minutes, she caught the sounds of the small band resuming after Cat said something to ease the masses and closed her eyes with a drop of her head.  Pulling in another lungful of oxygen she knew she could at least argue adrenaline had fueled her actions if anyone asked how she had moved so fast.

As things calmed down Cat turned from the small dais pre-set for Marsdin and Supergirl’s introduction, intent on going after Kara until she caught the sharp motion of her nephew grabbing for Evangelena’s arm in her periphery.  Twisting the limb and pulling her closer while her own mother spoke in a low tone that Cat couldn’t make out.

She took a step closer, only to see Lois take up a place beside her niece, wrapping an arm around her waist once Lena wrenched her arm free of her brother’s grasp. The motions alone set a few agents on edge that Cat could make out, which was just one more thing to thank Asher for she supposed.

At least Lillian had sense enough to draw Lex back a step, soothing him with a touch to his shoulder.  A step that turned into a series after a woman, who made even Lillian straighten to appear bigger than she was, wavered near.  The two exchanged a less than pleasant few words between them before Lillian and Alexander meandered away towards the lounge.

Lois pressed a quick kiss to the tall woman’s cheek before she too drifted elsewhere, leaving Lena and her former Aunt, however briefly she had held the title, to hug. Lois continued to console the younger woman as they resumed their places at their own table.

“Cat.” Olivia's voice was right beside her, how she didn't startle was anyone's guess.

“I'm sorry Liv. I'm sure half your team wants you out of here.”

“Such is the joy of being their boss. I'm here for you not them. What you did with Asher was -”

“Wreckless.”

“I was going to say chivalrous, and that’s putting it politely. I could never understand, at the time, why you married him but I see why then as opposed to how you are now.”

“I just bet.”

“Behind every man..” Olivia teased, nudging her friend. “That woman out there is a large part.”

“To what?”

Olivia smiled, easing her friend into a firm side hug. “Finding that part of yourself I remember from when we were in college. Listen, I can hold these people down. They're all waiting for Supergirl anyway.”

Cat nodded a bit. “One of mine is waiting for me.” She let out a slow breath, squeezing Oliva back gently. “If you need to start your speech go ahead. I know you’ve got a bid for an endorsement in there somewhere.”

Olivia chuckled nudging the other woman. “I’ve never said a thing about running.  Not yet anyway. Although, I do have a few candidates in mind to help carry me forward. Now’s not the time.”

With a gentle bump of her hip, Olivia separated herself from the other woman and made her way back to their table as Cat rounded the edge of the raised stage and made her way to the small stairwell leading to the balcony outside.

As she came around the edge of the wall the sight took her breath away. Wrapped in an unobscured view of the city and star-filled sky Kara stood in the center of the balcony all alone.  The same space Cat herself had occupied a couple days prior when she had called out for the other woman’s caped persona.

Cat couldn’t help the trail of her eyes along the expanse of the woman’s back, studying each contour of muscle and bone as she moved with the simple act of breathing.  A flutter of a breeze pulled her hair, causing it to whisper about and caress the side of her face as Kara lifted her head, turning her attention to the skies above them longingly.  The woman whispered something to the stars that she didn’t hear before Kara’s shoulders rippled to attention and Cat knew she had been detected.

Kara turned slowly, starting with a look over her shoulder that carried her completely around as Cat stepped out of the shadows of the stairwell and onto the glass balcony.  The heels of her shoes striking like some kind of drum beat that echoed deep in Kara’s chest. Her hands were in her pockets, arms forcing the line of her jacket apart even further and Kara swore the thing was only staying together by that thin chain across her collarbones.

“If you’re thinking of apologizing, you should let me lead the way on that one.”  

Kara swallowed back the words, pulling in a clearing breath of cool air as Cat stalked towards her.  

“I had no idea he would be here, especially when I found he had moved out of the room he had here a few weeks ago.  That should never have happened Kara, to you or your sister.”

Kara felt the corner of her mouth lifting as Cat stood in front of her, confident and self-aware.  She looked the part of the superhero Kara had always suspected her of being deep down. She nodded after another moment between them, reaching up to tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear for something to do with her hands.

“I was going to put him through the table,” Kara admitted, and she was, or at the very least had considered it for a second. Which was enough to feel ashamed of, even if only partially. Cat nodded, watching the other woman carefully.  

“I know. I did warn him about Alexandra, knowing full well you’re the bigger threat.”  

Kara let a breath of a laugh escape her with a small shake of her head. She wasn’t wrong, although she couldn’t imagine what she might have done if she had been here as Supergirl and completely unrestrained in the use of her powers when the man showed up.  

“I have to say, there are a few more questions in my head than before, what with all you said back there.”

Cat shifted her weight to her other hip, setting her body that much closer to the other woman as she hummed curiously.

“You mentioned courting me.” Kara watched Cat’s expression shift slightly, a single eyebrow lifting as she continued. “Although, I couldn’t help but notice the cover of your magazine on the way in. They’re hard not to miss, being life-sized and all.”

Cat kept her expression impassive, save for the barest ghost of a smile on her lips before she took a breath.

“We haven’t really discussed it, which I suppose is partially my fault. Putting a label or title on you, as far as our relationship for other people to swallow didn’t seem appropriate or considerate.”

“I’m not sure I can compare to the woman in that picture with you, even if we’ve both been on the receiving end of that look you have.”  Kara swallowed thickly, her throat suddenly dry.

“Are, are you jealous?” Cat asked with an odd lilt in her tone watching Kara shake her head back and forth a bit.

“There’s... not really a way one could be.  She’s Supergirl.”

“She’s an icon, shrouded in mystery that’s only fueled by how extraordinary she is.” Cat replied. “How she defies everything anyone on this planet has ever come to believe for as far as we as humans can remember.” Cat stepped closer still, eyes searching Kara’s own. “That image, no matter how self-serving some people will say it is, how dangerous others will see it, even how fearful it might be to think of… I wanted to show the world what she’s capable of.”

“What, with her flying?”

Cat shook her head. “Being human. The flying part was just a bonus.”

Kara let out another little laugh, obscuring the flattery with the apprehension building in her chest. “I just, I don’t even know what I’m trying to say other than what you said was amazing and thank you for defending me and Alex and us and I guess, to say I would understand. Honestly-”

“I wanted her to be you,” Cat admitted, pulling Kara’s features up sharply as a result.  She wasn’t about to let the other woman step aside for someone else who she believed Cat would be happier with.  Especially when that other someone else was essentially Kara herself.

“She has yet to tell me who she is, despite that the image looks as if I know her.  She’s just Supergirl. Who will come to me if I call her, but the same could be said for anyone who called out for her.  Who has told me, and no one else, her tragic origin story, but ultimately has to save the world at any given moment.” Cat licked her lips absently, planting herself where she stood in front of the other woman.

“So I guess I don't really know her, any more than anyone else might. Except, for this feeling I’ve had ever since I first saw her, a feeling that grew after she saved my life. This instinctual kind of connection I have with her that I couldn’t explain.” She saw Kara’s posture shift, pulling a hand from her pocket and reaching out to circle the other woman’s wrist.

“These last few months I've been a better woman, the best woman I've ever been...more than I can ever remember being and you're the reason why.  Kara, you and I have a similar connection. One that runs deeper than I’ve ever allowed anyone. I know you, and how safe you make me feel. I also know how dangerous and terrifying that feeling of safety really is..”

Kara felt as if her heart were going to beat right out of her chest as she allowed every word to sink into her before nodding a bit.  Cat’s grip felt like a lead weight, pulling her down into the moment.

“I… would imagine, with someone like Supergirl, if she feels that same connection, she’s keeping her identity secret for plenty of good reasons. It may not be the same but I know the feelings I have for you. Why I haven’t asked what we are or how I’m supposed to act or what I’m even supposed to say to anyone in situations like this because you’re _Cat Grant_.” Kara swallowed hard, seeing Cat’s eyes narrow slightly.

“I know you, the mother you are to Carter and have started to be again with Adam. The closeted romantic, self-sacrificing, charitable person wrapped up in all those other parts of you that no one else gets to see except me. You’re not much different from Supergirl. You might not be able to fly, but you’re just as palpable, especially in this city.  Your title is literally the Queen of National City and I know the woman behind that throne. What happened tonight with Asher is a perfect example for comparison. The difference I see with Supergirl is that it’s not going to be a drunk ex who’s easily subdued.”

Cat pulled in a deep breath, feeling the burn of tears at the back of her eyes and praying they didn’t show.  

“She's never going to tell me is she.” There was no question in Cat’s voice as she stared ahead forcing Kara to swallow hard.

“It’s a lot to risk, just like you risking everything you’ve built on me, on us, and this scandal I can already imagine Asher wanting to sell to some rival news outlet.”  It was a hard thing to say but she felt it needed to be said. Everything felt so confusing, blurring lines between their personas and everything else surrounding their lives.  How had she lost so much control over everything?

“I wish she knew that I was willing to take that risk... that I already am taking it by wanting to show the world all that I see in her with that image.  It might just be on the cover of a magazine, but it also might the closest I ever get to letting her know that.” Cat tightened her hold on Kara’s wrist then, pulling her closer until they were almost touching.  

“Just like I need you to know. Kara, you are worth any risk. I need you to understand that.  All this.” She gestured to their surroundings. “Is just stuff. Titles, corporations, money; they’re empty promises of what people like me are conditioned to accept as a life worthy of having. Love is never a component, it's twisted and manipulated into a reason of ruin so it never factors in.”

Kara looked struck, unable to keep the tears that fell between them.

“You love me?”

Cat nearly broke apart with the emotion that Kara nearly choked on with the question.

“Yes.”

The word barely left her mouth before Kara’s crashed into her. Her hands were rough and her body forgiving, even of her clothes weren't. She felt the snap of that chain like a bolt of electricity and the solidity of the wall as Kara pushed her back into it. Cat pulled at her dress, ignoring the sound of fabric rending apart in favor of the ones Kara was making. Kara's mouth tore away when she saw stars, forcing Cat to freeze in place.

“Are you-”

“Don't stop. Cat, please.” Kara's lips trembled against Cat's own, eyes baring her soul to the other woman.

Cat felt Kara's fingers digging into her forearm, adjusting her angle as Kara lowered herself until they were eye level. When Cat moved Kara pressed her forehead into the other woman's, jaw going slack as she squeezed her eyes shut. Kara clung to the back of her neck, kneading through her hair and keeping them together as she felt Cat move inside her. Cat grabbed at Kara's waist, forcing every inch of them together as she was pinned to the wall.

“Harder.” Kara panted, her knee striking the stone of the wall between Cat’s legs with an unforgiving scrape as she pushed herself up. Her motion drawing forth a carnal whimper of a sound Cat forced back behind the bite of her teeth.

As Kara straightened she took Cat with her, set astride her thigh and its unrelenting pressure that she channeled into making Kara hers. She felt something within her start to change as if the two of them were bonding to one another on some level beyond their physical entanglements.  It was a gradual blossoming of awareness, filling her up until it spilled over like nothing she had felt before in her life.

She could feel every stroke of her fingers as if they were inside herself, the molten fire rising up from the base of her spine, a pair of heartbeats thundering in perfect unison in her ears. All interwoven with the sensations clawing at her own body. The burn of muscles in her arm, the ache biting at her wrist. The unforgiving concrete scraping her lower back where her jacket had ridden up and the salacious fluctuation of Kara's thigh driving against her with every possessive thrust of her own.

“Cat... I'm gonna…” Kara held them together, fingers lost in the other woman's hair as she struggled to breathe. “Don't wantto hurt you….”

“Can you feel me…?”

Kara nodded fighting against the tremble of her own body, wanting to give into the tide of sensations washing through her. Begging her to let go. She heard the clink of a belt buckle and the metal teeth of a zipper splitting apart. Cat's rough gasp echoed against her skin as she drew one of Kara's hands out of her hair, pressing those fingers against the exposed line of her chest until Kara turned her hand. Cat wrapped her own hand over her mouth to stifle herself when Kara's fingers swirled around the wetness they found.  

Unable to speak without shouting she nodded against the question she heard reverberate through her mind through the constant string of affections and words she didn't recognize but still understood, all belonging to Kara.  Kara's fingers curled upward, driving hard with the added pressure of her own thigh as Cat reluctantly withdrew. Fitting her fingers along the soaked contours of Kara's body and matching the rhythm of the other woman's fingers with the heel of her hand.

Kara couldn't tell what emotions and sensations were hers and which ones were Cat's. Each thrust of her hand echoed through her body as if Cat were still inside her. Every jolt of pressure from Cat's hand against her caused the other woman to shudder involuntarily. Every breath, every sound, every strike of their hearts, even their thoughts tangled and overlapped until everything was thrown into an anguished absolution of silence for a series of heartbeats.

Until the two of them shattered against one another in a symphony of fire and innamoramento.

Kara nearly fell to the ground, barely able to hold the two of them up as their bodies gave out. She cried out as Cat pressed herself back inside as much as she could against the pressure Kara felt crushing her own fingers.  Cat bit her hand, unable to keep quiet as she felt her whole body convulse and stutter. She felt Kara pull her hand away from her mouth, replacing it with her own. Devouring every sound threatening to escape with the equal exchange of her own cries of abandon.

Cat was completely overwhelmed, struggling to remain conscious via the tethers of Kara's body interlinked with her own. She bit at Kara's mouth roughly once her body relinquished its hold on the other woman's fingers.  Kara followed her back as Cat's head thumped into the wall, bracing her hands on the cold stone on either side of Cat's body, adjusting her stance once she felt the ground beneath her feet again.

Cat curled her hand into a fist as she wrapped her arms around Kara's body.  Every laborious breath filled her senses with the two of them made vapor before she released them to the wind on her exhale. Kara felt her body slide further, forehead thumping against Cat's chest, as every panting breath washed over Cat's fevered skin. She knew she had ruined the wall behind the other woman and couldn't care less if Cat saw.  Cat let her head fall back further, opening her eyes to the stars above and swearing she could see the finer details only visible in remote locations devoid of civilization.

“Are you okay?” Kara's voice was raw, seasoned with a rough edge like two stones grinding against one another.

“No,” Cat answered honestly with a polyphonic resonance up from her chest and along the stretch of her throat.

“Did I hurt you?”

“Only in a good way.” Cat hummed on the edge of a warning as Kara's lips dusted across her sternum. “That was…”

“I... don't know.” Kara husked as she tasted Cat's skin in spite of the warning she heard.

“A long time coming,” Cat admitted, fingers tangled into the strands of Kara's hair only to curl and force the other woman back up in order to look at her. “I didn't want you like this.” Her eyes were half-lidded, body still recovering. Kara swallowed thickly only to feel Cat tighten her hold on her hair to maintain her focus.

“Not the first time...you deserve-”

“I’ll take you.” Kara pressed, driving her hips into the other woman to make her point. “However you'll have me, regardless of what I deserve.” She mouthed at Cat's chin tenderly, before kissing her throat.

“Impossible woman.”

“Adaptable…”

“We have to stop,” Cat whined as Kara nodded.

“I didn't want you like this either,” Kara stated, easing the pressure of her body against the other woman, making sure she could hold herself up before allowing space between them. “I needed you…”

Cat groaned. Releasing Kara's hair in order to flatten her hand against her chest and feebly push her back until they were arm's length apart.  “You're beautiful Kara.” She whispered the thought aloud as she drank in her disheveled and passion ravaged appearance. Feeling her insides churn and clench knowing she had been the cause.

Kara was a mess. The length of her dress was split along one side up to her thigh. The straps holding the top of it up having fallen down her arms threatening to expose her further. Her hair was a tangle of waves where her braid had dissolved. Her lips were red and swollen from kisses and her skin practically glowed with the sheen of sweat coating it. She reached up after another moment, fitting her fingers between Cat's across her chest and adjusting her glasses back into place.

Cat picked her head off the stone, feeling the soreness of their enthusiasm taking up residence all over. Her lower back felt raw as her jacket was tugged down to cover her skin. She felt the pressure of her waistband as Kara tugged her forward, easily hooking the metal clasp into place and drawing her zipper back up. Her hips moved easily as the other woman fit her belt back through the buckle and tightened it gently, setting the latch. Cat re-buttoned her jacket with one hand, pulling at the line in an attempt to salvage her appearance knowing she had to look every bit as fucked as Kara did. Kara leaned into her a final time, the pair of them thumping into the wall gently as Kara kissed Cat all over again.

“I have to go fix... myself…” Kara whispered as Cat reluctantly withdrew from her. “Or find a jacket...people are going to come looking for you. If they haven't already.”

“I know.” Cat nearly growled. She wanted to escort Kara out of the grand hall and into her suite, not facilitate the rest of the evenings intended activities. “Go. Now. Before I change my mind.”  Kara turned to leave, only to have Cat yank her back and kiss her. They fell into one another again until Cat pushed her away. “Go...God. Please before I do that again.” A second later Kara was headed on unsteady legs back up the stairs and out of sight.

Cat tried to take a deep breath, running a hand through her hair in an attempt to tame it into some kind of manageable style until she caught movement in the opposite direction of Kara's departure.

Astra slowly made herself known, descending from the shadows while Cat stared her down. Her approach was slow and deliberate, careful not to invade the woman's personal space as she drew closer. Cat straightened cautiously, her body protesting against her actions only to stiffen as the other woman reached out.

Without prompt or permission Astra fingered errant strands of Cat's hair until the woman drew back from her. The imposing figure gave her another once over before wiping at her own bottom lip. Cat easily read the signal, fingers pushing at her skin where it had been discolored before the other woman gave a curt nod.

“They… are asking...for you.” Astra pushed the words, still finding them foreign to her own tongue. She watched Cat size her up one more time before clearly determining she was trustworthy. Taking the time to sweep under her eyes with her fingers to ensure nothing else was too out of place.

“Thank you.” The words resonated between them, not only for this moment but, for what the woman had done concerning Asher moments prior.

Astra nodded, stepping aside and gesturing to the stairs she had descended, allowing Cat to lead the way back inside.


	42. And the Moon is the Only Light We See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex tries to reconcile with Astra while Cat holds court until Supergirl arrives with an important revelation for her despite the looking threat in the shadows around them all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even more super thanks to ChupeyDupey for the betas!
> 
> Still listening to Bootstraps cover of Stand By Me... Til I got to where Winn speaks.... [and then this crazy came in...](http://youtube.com/watch/?v=jUivjRIBLOU%22)

Alex excused herself for a second when she heard her phone ring, sliding it open she immediately recognized the number and answered despite the looks cast her way because of it.

“Danvers.”

“Anyone asks, I needed a walk and I’m checking in with mom about Carter or something.”

Alex nodded with a serious expression even if Kara couldn’t see it through the phone. “Okay, I know I was on-call but is everything-”

“Everything's... different but not bad. We’ll talk I promise.”

“All-alright. I appreciate you calling and letting me know I’ve been taken off the board... Mid-shift tomorrow, got it. Thanks.”  With a click she shut her phone, turning her attention back to Secretary Marsdin.

“Sorry.”

“Doctor problems. Not unlike government employee problems. Which, I’m afraid we will have to continue our conversation later.” Olivia stated, nodding over Alex's shoulder forcing the younger woman to turn.

The pair of them watched Cat stalk her way through the room before looking back to one another with a shared expression as a result of the woman's duskier appearance from before she had left the table.  

“Where's your sister?” Olivia asked with a hint of a tease.

“She's… probably checking in on Carter.”

“Mmmhhmmm.” Olivia singsonged a bit as Cat gestured to the band. Alex's attention lifted to the woman just behind Cat. Lingering almost protectively just out of reach. The streak of lightning was unmistakable, not as if the woman herself wasn't.  It was just the first time since Alex had arrived that she had been able to catch more than a glimpse or blur of the other woman. Her chest felt heavy, fingers curling into her palm as she stayed right where she was, instead of rushing over and barraging Astra with all the questions that had burrowed into her brain ever since they had kissed.

When Astra turned making her way around the dais that Cat had stepped up to Alex’s breath caught.  The brighter lights narrowed in on Cat, illuminating the Kryptonian briefly and the fitted jacket Astra was wearing. Alex recognized it immediately as the one she had asked if Kara had seen earlier in the evening. As Cat started speaking into the microphone, lowering the noise of the room their eyes locked.  

Where Astra stopped, Alex moved, her path set until a blinding swipe of light cut across her vision and applause filled her ears just barely over the pounding of her own heartbeat in her ears. Olivia touched her shoulder gently as she passed, shaking hands here and there as she made her way to the stage.  By the time Alex could see around the temporary blindness Astra was gone again.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in thanking Cat Grant for that introduction and for the lovely setting this evening. You have outdone yourself and gifted us all with this vision of yours. The Media Queen of National City everyone.” Olivia led everyone to a round of applause while Cat threw her an admonished glare before smiling as she made her way back to her seat.

Astra wove herself behind the same gilded lattices from earlier, checking on her targets at their table as they clapped in boredom before she cut her eyes to Alexandra. She continued to move about, mingling through those refreshing their drinks or carrying on private commentaries while the Secretary spoke to the room in search of the Kryptonian.

Alex turned around in a slow circle, her heart sinking further and further until she moved again, her posture lost and defeated. She stumbled slightly, apologizing quietly before gathering the length of her dress and backing away from the core of the room.

“Astra… please.” She whispered with a broken plea. Moving towards a more secluded area until she felt the warmth of metal against her back. In an instant she felt calm, the apprehension threatening to overwhelm her siphoning away.  She felt that metal wrapped in leather press into her with a slow undulation, urging Alex to try and match the rhythm.

Trembling fingers reached back behind herself, that steady rhythm against her back stuttering as Alex slowly spread her fingers around warm leather. She felt the muscles beneath her touch contract as if acclimating to her. Only to realize the opposite when Alex heard the soft gasp of a sound just behind her head when she flexed her grip around the other woman's thighs.

_“Alex…”_

Her eyes closed involuntarily,  chest caving with the shortened variant of her name, unsure when she had determined that she didn't want Astra to use it in place of her full name unlike everyone else. She felt the backs of Astra's fingers brush across her lower back and out towards her sides until the firmer pressure of Astra's fingertips rested against the curve of her hip bones.

“I don't know what you’ve done to me. I've tried to stay occupied, to convince myself of something that makes sense with all of these things bouncing around in my brain… and I can’t find anything in there.” Alex swallowed, looking out over the room as she concentrated on the measured calm of Astra’s breathing.  

“P-people make mistakes, or assume things in an intense moment… and react...poorly, selfishly even.  Then try to hide it, but after thinking about you-it for hours and days and-and really, it's the part that comes after that matters. The part where you make it right. Except I think you’ve been trying to make it right by avoiding me because that’s safer and easier to swallow for you.”

Alex was rambling, she knew she was rambling, but couldn’t seem to convince herself to stop talking. Fearing if she did, Astra would be gone again where Alex couldn’t follow and another opportunity to talk would be even harder to come by than this one now.    

“Course I, I avoided you too that morning you and Winn showed up and that was just… rude.  I was hurt and this is making it worse. S-so..I, Astra, I'm sorry for the way I acted. It’s not an excuse but I was tired, and upset what with telling Kara about that thing we did and then seeing you like that...then you just…” Alex swallowed, remembering how Astra had grabbed her up and made the world tilt and roll out from under her feet.  “A-an-and I shouldn't have let my emotions color my reaction to-”

 _“You have done nothing wrong,”_ Astra whispered

“Neither have you.”

 _"I have. Your apologies are honorable Alex, but you have to understand.”_   Astra's fingers flexed against Alex’s hips. “ _There are so many things you are unaware of, axioms and edicts and-”_

“I don't care.”

 _“I do.”_ Astra pressed, her fingertips drifting away as Alex's tightened, trying to will the other woman to stay. “And I will not dishonor you again.”

“Dishonor? Wh-wait. Don't leave me, not yet.”

_“I am here with you, even if you cannot touch me.”_

Alex felt the other woman shift her weight, her fingers closing around the empty air in the next second.

“I believe we should take a look around, Mother.” Lex's tone was indicative that whatever he had altered with their plan was going to be triggered into motion soon. “The rooms on the upper floor are supposedly quite a marvel.”

“Such an intuitive mind, I was just thinking I wanted a change of scenery.” Lillian eyed Lois Lane from her table, still playing protector over Lena where they sat listening to Olivia speak.

“I was thinking more along the lines of a better vantage point for the highlight of the evening.” He eased out of his chair like a snake uncoiling, ready to strike. He offered his hand, helping her up and guiding her towards the stairs leading to the mezzanine level.

“That is why it is both a great pleasure and an even greater honor to, hopefully,” Olivia smiled and paused for effect and the small bout of chuckles rose to meet her.  Considering the woman she had been relaying the efforts of heroism of had yet to be spotted it was all she could think to offer. “Introduce National City’s very own, Supergirl.”  

Cat watched as the standard round of applause began to echo around the room.  Each guest taking their own time to look around the room, in search of the special guest.  The corners of her mouth slowly lifted as she counted out in her mind, waiting until she reached seven before standing.  

“Eight… nine…-”

A cacophony of surprise and awe erupted throughout the room, the applause growing louder as Supergirl appeared just outside the grand hall hovering beyond the wall of glass, surrounded by the skyline of her city.  The lights adjusted, highlighting the woman just outside, cape billowing with a life of its own behind her as she descended slowly to the outer balcony and out of view.

The whole of the room was out of their seats, each striving to get a better view, only to step back in a wave as she flew up through the stairwell opening into the hall proper, again floating high above the hall for everyone to see before gracefully descending onto the stage beside Marsdin.

Supergirl squared her shoulders, taking the hand offered out to her and shaking it gently with a small nod.

“Madame Secretary, thank you for those kind words, and reminding me how much this city has come to mean to me.” She looked out over the grand hall, stepping closer to the microphone as her eyes fell on Cat.

“We should all be thanking Cat Grant, for all of this, it is extraordinary and humbling. I need to thank her personally.” Supergirl drew a deep breath, feeling the weight of the room lingering on her every word. “For giving me a voice, a human voice, among you and for making me come to understand that like you, I am not alone here.  I am... not sure how long I can stay, tonight, but I will as long as I can before I’m needed.”

She straightened back, as the room was again filled with the sounds of applause and a few cheers. She and Marsdin descended the stage but not before the other woman leaned in.

“Nicely done Supergirl.”  

The hero smiled behind her mask, shaking the woman’s hand another time to a small flicker of flashbulbs.

“You’re taller than I thought you’d be,” Supergirl said genuinely before giving the Secretary a small wink as she stepped down to ground level.  

Cat remained where she was, watching the throng of people rushing closer, each longing to get a picture or shake Supergirl’s hand or ask some mundane question ranging from why the mask to what her favorite food was.

“Gotta hand it to you Cat.” Lois’ voice drew a small smile to Cat’s features before she turned her head to regard the other woman.

“I don’t think even I could have done it better.”

“Yes well, let’s not forget you enjoy being a reporter, which has some limitations by comparison.”

“I meant on the article you dolt.” Lois shouldered Cat easily, both of their smiles remaining as they looked on. “You can take the girl out of the reporter’s room but... “

“Enjoy that advanced copy did you now?”

“I was wondering when you’d start to gloat.  I’m actually proud of how long you waited.” It was Cat’s turn to push the other woman. “Although I do have one burning question to ask.”

“Just one? How refreshing, usually there’s a leaflet handed out followed by a polygraph.”

“The look you’re going for. That some new statement I’m unaware of? I mean I know I’m -only- in the news business, your organization is a little more well rounded and worldly but I hadn’t seen anywhere mentioning this whole in flagrante delicto vibe being the thing for Spring.”

Cat merely preened, running her hand through the length of her hair before adjusting the line of her jacket.  

“Sex always looked good on you Cat, this whole… glowing, unattainable thing you have right now.” Lois whistled low. “There’s some serious depth to be had there.”

“Says the one who has to use a ladder nightly.” Cat immediately reached for her arm, rubbing at the muscle where Lois hit her.  “Ow…” Cat exaggerated the word, sending a glare Lois’ way before looking back over the room. “I am merely pointing out a fact. Diana is taller than Lillian and you’re shorter than I am.”

“By a half inch.” Lois allowed, studying the crowd and the woman at the center of it. “How bout the fact that you’re seeing two women? Do they even know-”

“Stop.”

“Oh, a nerve.”

“That’s not a nerve, that’s asking that you not devolve from a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist into inquirer boot scum Lane.”

“Explain the cover of your new magazine then Cat, it’s been years since you let hardly any outlet get a picture of you they could use.  Then when they actually do, coupled with that interview-”

“See this is one difference between us Lois.” Cat turned her features to the other woman pointedly. “For me, being a reporter alone, while being a noble endeavor, is too small.  Don’t mistake that I’m undermining it by saying that either. I loved being a reporter. I’m merely using it as a base towards an understanding between us. Now being a reporter like you are, you easily see the small picture. The little flashbangs of stories attached to your name that after a week or in this day and age in an hour are often  lining the cages of animal pens everywhere.”

Cat turned her attention to one of the nearby displays of CatCo magazine, feeling an undeniable sense of pride and what she could only identify as adoration w looking at it.  Especially with Supergirl standing less than ten feet away from it.

“That… makes money, and will for the entirety of my natural lifespan.  The anniversary editions alone would pay Adam’s tuition twice.” Lois snorted out a breath as Cat smirked. “It will garner plenty of attention.  It will win awards. It will start conversations not just here, but across the nation, and given the subject matter I would suspect across the world. It answers a universal question we have always asked ourselves.  Are we alone?” Cat crossed her arms over her chest, her gaze leveling on Supergirl as she continued to indulge the people around her.

“It will flood my building with a plethora of new blood, sponsors, investors, book deals, network negotiations, radio shows and a proverbial golden ticket of standing invitations from Martha Stewart’s Christmas Party to the White House. They’ll all be clamoring to claim a piece of a connection to CatCo, and essentially Supergirl, to call their own.”.

Cat knew the words she was spewing would have made her mother proud, and they couldn't have been farther from the truth of it all. When she really looked at what she was doing, especially with that larger than life image stretched about on canvass for everyone to see, the last thing she saw was profit and a lifetime of successful enterprise.  It was exactly what she had told Kara it was, a declaration not only to the woman across the room but the entire world.

Lois eyed Cat as if she were some megalomaniacal genius. “I hate you right now.”

“No, you don't. I can hear the hamster running. Although, you might want to oil the wheel before it catches fire.”

“You know I’m going to call in that favor around Olsen and Lucy right?”

Cat grinned like her namesake. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? I already talked to Perry about it, seeing as he’s their boss and all.  I mean, I’m sure you could always go ask Supergirl for your own interview if that’s what you were after.”

“You’re such a bitch,” Lois said with a playful tone and a shake of her head. “Besides, maybe that wasn’t the interview I was after.”

“Oh? Do tell Lane.”

“I want to interview you, the woman behind Supergirl’s rise-”

“No one is behind or in front of anyone Lois. Let’s be clear on that one before you spin this right into tabloid fodder.”

“Ouch Kitty, I’m just saying, you’re just as popular and untouchable as she is now.  That’s not going to change anytime soon with her residing in National City and you, of course, being you.” Lois drew in a deeper breath and Cat felt the amusement of their conversation falter.

“You want to talk to me about Lillian and Alexander don’t you?”

Lois shifted her jaw slightly, watching the gaggle of people move along with Supergirl as she directed herself somewhere less obtrusive to the general layout of the room.

“You need to be very careful where you tread with them, Lois.”

“I think I can handle the-”

“She was just as much a part of what happened between us and Adam as my mother was.”  Cat turned to Lois pulling her attention from the hero in the room. “And she had far less influence and position then.  Maybe not over me, but whatever her agenda is now, it comes with very powerful friends. Friends who have no restraint and can justify any means to an action they deem worthy of whatever cause she’s taken up now.”

Lois furrowed her brow, finding nothing but truth in Cat’s words and feeling her spine chill a bit.

“You’re actually scared of her.”

Cat shook her head. “Not her, Lillian has a limit somewhere deep down. Alexander, I’m not so sure of, considering  those little breadcrumbs you’re finding in Metropolis surrounding him and that corporation of his.” She let out a huff of an exhale, looking back towards Supergirl. “You and I both know what people who let fear, and a lack of wanting to understand things that are different, dictate their actions are capable of. Especially when those people are influential or in power.”

“You're actually scaring me a bit Cat. You know what that does to me.”

“Yes, I do. But before you go all investigative reporter this time, take a minute and ask your father how much he knows about my sister and her son's corporation.”

Lois looked stunned, which was a rarity by anyone's standards.

“If he won't answer you, your sister might, if she knows anything.”

“That sounds like some kind of threat.”

“It's a warning. Be sure you want all the answers to the questions you have in that head of yours, good and bad. Along with a willingness, essentially, to try and understand the reasons behind them. We all have connections Lois, some are family some are friends.  I know at least one of my friends is keeping something from me. A great many something's and I haven't asked her because I'm not sure if I really want the answers she is going to give me.”

“Supergirl?”

“Olivia.” Lois turned back to the room. While the massive influx of people had calmed down to some degree, the heroine was still surrounded by a number of guests.  She lifted the line of her gaze just over the woman’s shoulder, watching the Secretary talking with a man she didn’t recognize and Diana.

Cat glanced over at Lois then, watching her expression shift ever so slightly as she continued to watch the interactions across the way from both of them until she felt a hand at her opposite shoulder which stirred both women out of their more somber interlude.

“Aunt Kitty, you didn’t tell me she was going to be here!”  

“It was on the invitation and all over the room Evangelena, I’m not sure how you could have missed it.”

“Who-wha-Supergirl? No not Supergirl, although she’s shorter than I thought she was going to be.” Lena moved behind her Aunt, squeezing in between her and Lois and wrapping them both up at the waist. “I mean Lolo.”

Cat couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her, followed by a joint nudge from both women. “Oh God, I had forgotten about that little nickname.”

“Shut it, Kitty,” Lois emphasized her moniker while Lena hugged them both a little tighter.

“Take off those four-inch heels and go stand beside the Girl of Steel and tell me she's shorter.” Cat nudged her niece, rubbing the hand around her waist belonging to the other woman. “Besides, I thought you could use the extra surprise. Especially with your mother and all”

“She means backup Lena don't be fooled.”

“Yes well, I'm very grateful, especially with what mother said.” She kissed both women on the cheek and Cat could easily see the hurt lining the finer details of her niece's features. “I'm going to get a drink, want anything?”

Both women shook their heads, content to people watch for now as Lena hugged them one more time before slipping away in the direction of the lounge. When Cat was sure Lena was out of earshot she stepped closer to Lois once more.

“Tell me.” Cat’s tone held no room for argument as her gaze followed after her niece as she made her way into the lounge area.

“How do you feel about adopting?” Lois said nonchalantly.

Cat’s expression fell further, her eyes narrowing as she turned from the lounge to scour the room for her sibling. “You’re not serious.”

“It seemed to be the least of her worries honestly.  I missed whatever it was Alexander said to her, but Lillian.” Lois let out a slow breath. “That woman reminds me of your mother.”

Cat nodded a few times over.

“As much as you’re telling me to be careful, you need to be just as much Cat, if not more so. Especially if you’ve already put things into place like you usually tend to do while thinking some of the rest of us don't notice.  Just like you did with Adam.”

“I haven't put anything in solid writing. Not... completely, yet.  I was hoping… I’m not sure what I was hoping but it certainly wasn’t Lillian disowning her and just throwing Evangelena away like garbage.”

Lois wrapped an arm around Cat’s waist, hugging her gently in a rare show of affection for the two of them out in public, given the reputations they held concerning one another.

“As much as I know you’ve distanced yourself from your family, especially your sister, if you follow through with that little backup plan of yours Lillian will forever be in your life.”

“Lena’s not even -her- daughter-”

“No, but she is Lionel’s, and knowing what I know about how he worked, that man always had a contingency plan. Even when he died.”

“He was murdered.”

Lois sighed. “Listen to me. What I’m saying is, Lionel had two children, right now Lex is the only child in your sister’s heart, what’s left of it. Being the only boy to carry on the namesake I’m sure had a place all its own in his father’s heart. However, you and I both know that’s nothing in comparison to daddy’s little girl.”

Cat drew in a tight breath, the weight of the warning Lois was now giving her only compounded everything else she felt about her sister and nephew and all they were involved in.  On her exhale she made up her mind about a few things that had been swirling around, one of which meant contacting her other sister.

“She’s family,” Cat answered after a minute, giving Lois a small knowing smile.

“Who are you?”

Cat actually chuckled, turning to look back at Supergirl once more, her smile lingering. “I’m Cat Grant, or haven’t you heard?”

Lois scoffed, easing away from the other woman. “Thank you for inviting me Kitty, it is an amazing party.”

“Leaving so soon?”

“Not hardly, but the longer I’m over here talking to you the less validity those reputations of ours as being cutthroat rivals have to cling to.”

“Heaven forbid we appear like amicable adults.”

“Oh we are, but we’re women so we don’t get to smoke cigars and compare our tools to one another. We're supposed to claw each other’s eyes out and fight over the same man or something.”

Cat chuckled. “How informative. Enjoy the night Lane.”

“I will.”

Cat watched Lois ease across the room, making a beeline for the caped woman through those still waiting for their own moment with her, shaking her head at the sight.  A few steps and she was greeted by guests thanking her for the invitation and opportunity in case they didn’t get to say it before leaving for the evening. Before she could turn to resume her observations of the room, or more specifically Supergirl’s place within it, she caught a sliver of red framed by brass gilded archways.

With practiced ease, she wove her way through the room, stopping here and there as people flagged her down or intercepted her path.  Some asked for meetings for another time, other’s thanked her, some even asked when the next event was going to be. She carried on with her own level of dismissive politeness until she was within reach of the woman set off by herself.

“If I knew I wouldn’t be arrested or fined, I’d say you need a drink Alexandra...” Cat stated gently, taking up residence in the chair beside the other woman.

Alex sat, running her fingers over the leather jacket piled in her lap, it's insides curled towards her as of she had been wearing it backward. The corner of her mouth lifted with Cat’s words before she took a deep breath, the traces of Astra still lingering on the edge of her senses.

“Kara went to check in with my mom about Carter.” She offered lamely, expecting that to be Cat’s next question. Cat sat back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other and setting her arm on the back of Alex's seat.

“Mind if I ask you something?” When Alex shook her head Cat continued. “If you tell anyone I asked, I might deny it. So I need you to look at me so I can be sure.”

Alex let out a small sigh and straightened in order to look at the other woman.

“Go ahead.”

“Would you like a hug? I can't say I'm great at them but...”

Alex blinked forcing the fluid clinging to her lashes to fall before nodding. With little fanfare Cat brought her arm in, pulling Alex to her before her other arm secured her against her torso. It took a moment, maybe two before one of Alex's arms encircled her and pulled Cat closer.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Cat's voice was warm and full against Alex's ear as she just hugged the woman tighter. “Is… it about Kara and-”

“No.” Alex let out a small laugh. “That would be easier but no.”

“Are you, okay with that idea?”

Alex sighed, shifting enough so that she was still holding onto the other woman but able to rest her head on her should and not look at her. “Would it matter if I wasn't?”

“It'd be a deal breaker,” Cat said honestly forcing Alex up to stare at her. “What? You're her sister Alexandra. You are an integral part of her life and well being.  If you have any issues or concerns or problems with it, that comes first.”

“But you… you make Kara happy.”

“And so do you. You're her family. I'm already concerned enough at the prospect of meeting your parents, when, if that happens.”

“It's going to happen. As soon as mom can figure out how to make it happen, which is usually around the maximum embarrassment threshold.”

Cat chuckled. “I'll make a note. But right now it's you I'm more concerned with.”

“I think you're right for her. I'll eviscerate you ten ways from tomorrow if you hurt her but-”

“I'll bring the scalpels.”

“I was going to say I’ll also do the same to Kara if she hurts you and I'll deal with both of you if you hurt Carter.”

“Anyone told you that you have a little bit of a bedside manner issue?”

“I'm working on it.”

Cat mmm’d with a nod, rubbing at Alex's shoulder. “Honestly though?”

“Honestly, I've got no problems with you and Kara. You'll be the first to know if I do though.”

“Then who are we pining after here?” Cat questioned, gently fingering the collar of the jacket. Alex drew in a deep breath, setting back in her chair, neither of them removing their arm from one another.

“That… is extremely complicated.”

“Are they worth it?”

“I… think so, but I also think they don't believe they are.”

Cat pulled in a deep breath with that statement. That she could relate to first hand. There were still plenty of parts still arguing that on a daily basis. The difference between then and now was the woman who shut those voices up enough to allow the quieter ones arguing the opposite to be heard.  

“That’s a very difficult thing to change. Or at least try to show with your actions that they're wrong.”

“What if they won't even allow themselves to come close enough to see those actions?”

“Then they're probably questioning everything about themselves, and how someone like you could ever even look at them a certain way. Much less actually have genuine feelings for them beyond a level of tolerable coexistence. Assuming, of course, they're not also having to negotiate other things.” Cat hugged Alex a little closer. “You're one of those things for me, just like Carter and Adam will be for Kara. Along with many other complicated pieces of our lives as individuals that, I hope, Kara and I work together on to make fit.”

Alex let out another quiet sigh mostly at herself, although Cat's words had a definitive measure of truth to them that revealed her experience on the matter.

“I'm probably the last person who should be giving you advice on any of this but I do know that I very nearly let someone slip out of my life because I assumed that was better for them and those around them. I thought that I was too complicated or maybe even broken. So many self-imposed stipulations and all manner of bullshit.”

Alex actually laughed at that.

“It's not an invalid thought. It is what it is and those are my issues, and there will be more I'm sure.  There's no honor in not allowing another person to have a say in something, especially with their feelings and wants. Even if it hurts or terrifies you.”

Alex pulled in a deep breath, letting it out with a huff.

“I feel like I owe you a session fee and I should be booking another appointment.”

Cat chuckled gently, pulling Alex into another hug. “I'm the one who owes you, Alexandra. I think you punching Asher on New Year's was like a butterfly effect.” Alex smirked, hugging Cat back tightly before straightening up again, pulling the jacket with her as she let out a relieved sigh.

“Thank you. For that, and this and for what you said earlier to that asshole.”

“Oh trust me it was my pleasure.” Cat winked, watching Alex stand. “You know, on a random note, you in that dress makes me realize you could be a model, maybe not a Gisele-like supermodel but a very solid house model for sure.” Alex laughed boisterously and Cat knew the woman felt better and wasn't just placating her given the circumstances.

“I think you may have hit your head Cat.” Alex continued to chuckle as Cat merely got more comfortable in her seat. “I needed that one. If this whole doctor thing doesn't pan out I know who to go to first.”

“I feel so privileged.”  Cat grinned, watching the heavier weight that had threatened to drown the other woman dissolve away. “You know where to find me if you need anything else tonight.”  Alex nodded, glancing back at the hall and catching sight of Supergirl slowly working her way through the room.

“Thanks again, Doc.”

“Oh, you're funny.” Cat mused with a heavy sarcasm before Alex stepped away, making her way through the crowd of people towards the woman of the hour. She watched unobstructed as the two met one another's gaze, conveying plenty without words even before Alex tried to pretend she didn't know the masked woman and just wanted to say hello.

Supergirl wrapped Alex up after another exchange of words, and while the crowd around them saw it as someone touched by Supergirl's actions involving the city or some other heroic act, Cat saw the two of them connect as sisters. Reassuring that despite the predicaments surrounding Alex that she was alright, while Kara tried to convey her own level of support.  All in plain sight and a matter of a few moments. Even if Cat did have her own inside knowledge to the contrary, it amazed her how oblivious people could really be.

Cat’s attention turned to yet another set of individuals intent on introducing themselves formally to her in some feeble attempt to impress her and consider doing some kind of business with CatCo. It almost made her nostalgic for the times when she could leave early or side step entire conversations such as this because she held no interest in whatever it was they were trying to sell.

“Pardon me, gentlemen.” Supergirl’s voice broke through the conversation, causing the two men to turn and Cat to look up.  There was still a train of people clustered behind the heroine invested in her interactions.

“Miss Grant?” She started while Cat rose an eyebrow before holding out her hand. “Would you care to dance with me?” The look on Cat's face spoke volumes and all Supergirl could do was smile behind that mask of hers. The small band had started up shortly after her arrival and the small dance floor was already partially occupied. “I'd hate to waste the opportunity before I leave, to say thank you.”

Cat shifted her jaw slightly, pushing down the amusement she found with that admittance. She glanced at those waiting expectantly for her to either accept or immediately step in to take her place. She inclined her head, giving the hero another full once-over before reaching out and taking her hand.

Supergirl easily pulled her out of the chair before the two of them transversed the room towards the small floor. The crowd around them grew in size as the hushed tones of conversation both good and scandalized rumbled like thunder in their wake.

“Do you know what you're doing Supergirl?”

“Would it matter either way?” She pried back the knuckles of her gloves, removing the armaments completely and tucking them away leaving a thin band to circle her thumbs where her sleeves ended.

“Just want to know who's going to lead.”

As soon as Supergirl’s boots hit the harder surface of the dance floor, bare fingers caught Cat's wrist. With a small tug and a twist, Cat made solid bodily contact with the caped heroine that could be felt throughout the room.

“I'll lead.” Supergirl’s voice was in Cat’s ear causing her body to stiffen slightly. Her free hand fanned over the woman's sigil to steady herself before she took a full step back when Supergirl’s free hand settled at her waist.

“For now.”

Supergirl smiled, as those on the dance floor gradually moved to the outer edges in order to observe the pair as they moved in a slow circle mostly at Cat’s minute direction. They moved with an overall stiffness in their postures and a more stagnant nature of motion.  The entire time Cat felt the other woman’s eyes on her as if waiting for something. Cat felt the ease with which Supergirl moved to the slightest shift of her shoulders or pivot of her waist.

“What?” Cat asked as Supergirl tilted her head slightly.

“This… isn’t dancing.” Supergirl slid her hand in against Cat’s lower back pressing her closer before drawing their joined hands to her chest and lowering her chin enough to still look at the woman directly despite their more intimate proximity.

“No?” Cat eyed the other woman carefully before she tipped her head up almost in challenge.  Her other arm ran along Supergirl’s back underneath her cape, pressing against the center of her just below the line of her shoulder blades.  

Supergirl shook her head ever so slightly, flexing her fingers around Cat’s own and forcing a sharp intake of breath as the ground drifted out from under the both of them.  Cat could easily hear the astonishment of those around them as the dance floor cleared to the edges. She adjusted the placement of her feet until they felt solid on Supergirl's boots as if it were second nature and pulled herself closer.

The pair moved effortlessly, removed from the immediacy of onlookers in their periphery their faces hidden from view as even those on the mezzanine were forced to look upward at the two.

“Cat?” The other woman hummed her response, the weight of her name alone made her heart rate increase against the cage of her ribs.

“There's something I should have told you before I left the balcony…”

Cat lifted her features as Supergirl raised their joined hands from her chest, pressing Cat’s fingers against the edge of her mask until they caught.  She let her own slip away, drawing something from the line of her belt as Cat felt the mask give under the curl of her fingers.

Supergirl saw the trepidation settling within Cat’s eyes, whispering that it would be alright, leaning in enough so that the curtain of her hair hid them completely from prying eyes or camera lenses.

Cat swallowed heavily, drawing her fingers towards her palm, pulling the mask down feeling as if she were going to hyperventilate as the other woman was revealed to her.  Kara wrapped her hand around Cat’s trembling one, fingers pressing the thin gold chain that had been attached to the other woman’s jacket earlier into her hand.

“I love you.”

The words broke over Cat like a wave as did the realization that they were not alone and as much as she wanted to lean forward and kiss the other woman senseless she knew she couldn’t.  A pair of fingers curled around the chain to keep it from falling out as her hand nearly covered the lower half of Kara’s features, flexing against her skin as the other woman pressed a whisper of a kiss against her skin.  

“Kara…”  Trembling fingers fell to the mask again, pulling its edge up hastily until Supergirl affixed it into its proper place and enabled the locking mechanism.  Cat turned her other hand from its place on the other woman’s back, clinging to her cape from underneath and twisting, drawing the two of them even closer.

Supergirl turned easily, taking note that the whole of the room had stepped back and away and was focused solely on her and Cat where they moved above the dance floor. Her fingers wrapped around Cat’s hand again, pressing their hands against her chest between one another.

She tipped her chin down just slightly, brushing across the side of Cat’s temple while the woman tucked in closer, ignoring the voices in her mind about the ever-increasing optics of this whole situation.  With a deep breath, she started to let them float back towards the ground with slow intent, trying to make the moment between them last that much longer.

“I’ve got targeted erratic movement,” Winn said over the comms, watching the screens from the D.E.O. through agent transmitters, while Hank and Diana tried to identify their point of origin. “East of your central location, pushing through the crowd.”

Winn’s voice was resolute, taking control of one of their security cameras to zoom in on the man. His heart stopped when he saw the look on the man’s face. He had only ever seen it one other time; in his own father before Winn’s whole world as he knew it was shattered to pieces.

“I don’t think he’s looking to shake hands with anyone there.”

Lillian nudged Lex’s arm gently from their position on the mezzanine looking down below like an oligarch would those they perceived as mere peasants.  The vantage was perfect, according to Lex anyway. He took another sip of champagne, seemingly bored until he caught the motion of his little errand boy, the edge of his mouth lifting as he stepped flush with the balcony.

It was like watching a shark circle blood in the water and it filled him with a kind of thrill that could only be outdone if he were the one carrying out the order below. Lillian scanned the room as a whole, seeing signs of motion closing in on the dancefloor and easily recognized Henshaw and Prince.  She straightened slightly when the taller woman turned and managed to find her regardless of being on separate levels, feeling her blood grow cold.

“We’ve been compromised.” She stated darkly, wrapping an arm around her son’s waist casually.

“Relax mother, we were invited, no matter what little spat you and Aunt Kitty had. We’re also right up here in plain sight.  Now, running into Evangelena was unexpected, as were her little protectors, but if her loyalties lie elsewhere she’ll just be something else we’ll deal with accordingly.” He caught the movement of the others, his smile only broadening.  “Besides this will only further Aunt Kitty’s humiliation, despite how good a job she’s doing all on her own dancing with that creature like that.”

“This isn’t a game Lex-”

“Yes I know Mother, but I came here for entertainment and to prove a point that this falsified god can bleed. Not the quiet whisper of a statement that you intended.  Perhaps if you hadn’t let Aunt Kitty get to you she would be wearing that necklace instead of Evangelena.” He finished his drink, squaring his shoulders as he adjusted his jacket watching his man below.

“However, a trinket pales in comparison to what I have created. As I stated when we arrived, I have a backup plan to your little experimental attempt and it’s unfolding beautifully.  Right now, it’s the only entertaining thing I’ve seen the start of all night long.” He drew his mother closer to him, almost painfully. “So we’re not going to leave, without some kind of payoff.”  

“I’m on the opposite side, I don’t see… there, shouldering through.  Light hair, medium build, they’re headed for the center. I can’t get through without crossing the floor and drawing attention.” Hank stated over the comms

“Don’t, we’ll lose them in the panic of the crowd if you do,” Diana demanded in response to Hank. Her focus returned to the main floor from the Luthor’s. “Why the hell isn’t she on comms? No one could convince her just for tonight?”

“Winn alert the secret service through their transmitters. Marsdin is on the crowd edge. Until we know who they’re targeting she needs to be covered.” Hank ordered, even with Diana moving closer to the Secretary of State’s proximity.

“I think it’s a little obvious there Captain… uh... Sir.”

“Winn,” Diana warned before she caught sight of service agents moving closer to Marsdin in a typical box formation after a few moments. “Where’s Sentinel?”

“Trailing the Luthor’s.” Hank supplied as he started to edge through the crowd in the hopes of casually intercepting the individual making their way through ahead of him. “I can’t see his hands.”

“He’s not on any of the blacklists. None of the transmitters are registering a weapon signature which means he doesn’t have a gun. Anything else he would have had to go through security-”

“We don’t know if he’s had help, Winn. No one shouts anything until you can confirm. That’s an order.”

Alex watched on the edge of the crowd, a part of her was beyond happy for her sister, and at the same time she couldn’t help the melancholy that clenched her like a series of straps around her ribs.  She was so wrapped up in her own mind that she completely missed the motion of the D.E.O. agents around the room as they cut through the crowd in order to reach the one weaving himself through the throng behind her.

The man shouldered past the person beside Alex, causing her to step off balance a bit as the realization of what she was witnessing crept up into her awareness too late to warn anyone.  The man was already at a full sprint the dark green flash being drawn from his waistband telling her all she needed to know about what it was.

“HUMAN’S FIRST!” He shouted as he rushed the pair at the center of the room, his intention set on Supergirl.  With an unexpected thud, she and Cat were out of the air, Supergirl already pulling the other woman behind herself as she turned into the man, eyes going wide as she already felt the whole of her strength being sapped from her body as he rushed at her.

Lillian clenched Lex around the waist enough to bruise, leaning forward into the railing as the call rang out over the crowd, already scattering those nearest to the situation to scream and set into motion the cascading domino effect of chaos to spread throughout the venue.

“Oh my god… Supergirl is the target!” Vasquez shouted over the comms, seeing Diana and Hank trying in vain to push through the herd of panicked people. “He’s got Kryptonite!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 15762 words in 2 chapters fml


	43. The Past is Gone It Went By Like Dusk to Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaos ensues and Astra's life hangs in the balance in the wake of an attack on Supergirl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to ChupeyDupey for the beta!
> 
> This is a ROUGH one... 
> 
> Warning: heavy angst and violence and the aftermath of being stabbed
> 
> As always... inspiration while writing. [Dream On covered by Position Music](http://youtube.com/watch/?v=jUivjRIBLOU) and one of my favorite Queen song [renditions that always makes me think of Astra](http://youtube.com/watch/?v=l_fiqy5Jq9g)

Supergirl braced herself for impact, her legs threatening to buckle beneath her as the man rushed closer. She readied her hands in anticipation to try and grab or redirect the knife before it slammed somewhere vital.

“WEAPON!” Alex shouted, her balance off, knowing she was headed for the floor with the shove from behind her.  She felt weightless for only a second, finding her balance restored from out of nowhere. Alex caught a streak of lightning as it broke past her vision, the sound of leather and skin squeaking along the floor just as the man shouted with his effort to bury the knife in his hand to the hilt into his intended target.

Marsdin’s security team pulled her back when the shouts rang out, surrounding her as was their job. Diana secured their exit just in case it was all a diversion and there were multiple assailants waiting for this cue to proceed with additional attacks. Hank was still fighting the throng of people around him before he sent out a pulse wave of telekinetic suggestion not only for people to calm down, but to get out of his way as if he were a same-sided magnet all too late.

Astra’s scream was beyond carnal, erupting through her body as she clung to the man connected to her through the hilt in his grasp.  Her skin was already crawling with that otherworldly green through her veins, burning across her system like a wrecking ball covered in gasoline and set on fire, turning her eyes a similar shade of frightening green to match.

“Serves you right… invader.” Not to be outdone he actually growled at her, twisting the knife with another scream from the woman before he snapped the handle off and pushed her away from him onto her back with another shout of pain.

“Astra!” Supergirl shouted, her strength returning with the blade’s sheath inside her aunt’s body.  

“EVERYBODY DOWN!!” A secret service agent shouted nearby, while Hank and Diana issued additional commands over the roar of screams and running people.  

The man turned to run, only to be tripped up by Alex as she rushed towards him, giving Supergirl enough time to fly forward. She snatched the man by his throat and rocketed up towards the ceiling above the crowd while he writhed and fought.

Cat was the first to grab the woman, holding her head in her lap as she shook and convulsed, holding back as much as she could involving her pain through clenched teeth. Astra's skin pulsed green to the drum of her heartbeat across her veins while her hands shook where they hovered over her own body as she felt herself slipping into shock.  

Cat grabbed the nearest thing she could to use as a compress, balling it up and setting it against the ebbing wound. Astra choked on a growl blood coloring her lips, the ultraviolet green of her eyes opening to the woman cradling her head before she rose a shaking hand and pointed above them.  Cat looked up at the direction of the other woman and felt her heart stop at the sight that greeted her.

Lillian stayed focused on the scene at the center of the floor, her mind finally recognizing the woman that had taken the knife to the chest and feeling her blood boil at the thought.  Lex, on the other hand, was too focused on Supergirl, hovering above everyone and dangling his fall man like a worm on a hook.

“We may have gotten something better than we intended.”

Lillian heard her sister shout at the heroine above them all, the screams of the man in her grasp intermingling with others of the room.  Only for the two of them to catch each other’s gaze when Cat’s attention was pulled by another figure rushing to the aid of the woman in her lap.

The sisters held each other’s eyes for an imperceptible moment as if they were the only two people in the room before the world around them seemed to rush back at normal speed once again.  Lex pulled away, taking his mother with him who only now blinked before making for the nearest exit.

“I think we have enraged the self-proclaimed god.” Lex chided with a small snicker of wicked amusement as they followed along with the rush of guests away from the grand hall.  Neither of them seeing Lois as she stepped out from behind the nearest pillar after them.

Alexandra nearly fell over Astra’s body as she knelt beside her, seeing the effects the Kryptonite was already having on her and the horror to those who had frozen in place instead of running once Astra had been stabbed.  

“Cover her up!” Alex demanded. “If people find out what she is she may not make it out of here alive.”

Lena rushed to her aunt, coming around on the opposite side of the prone woman's body as she flared out her dress to form a kind of makeshift curtain to shield the scene from prying eyes. Astra grappled at Cat for a moment, pulling her full attention before pointing not at the scene above them but towards her niece.

“I don’t.. understand.”

Everyone's heads lifted as the undeniable scream of impending death filled the room to capacity, watching the man Supergirl had been holding onto free falling towards them. At the last possible second Supergirl was on the ground, catching the man roughly just as Hank rushed up to do the same, nearly exposing himself in the process.

“Get her away from me!” He screamed only to be flung into the director hard enough to break his ribs by the heroine.

The two aliens stared at one another for a long moment before Hank turned him around and secured his hands, pitching him into the sea of armed D.E.O. agents that flanked the dance floor.  

“Get him out of here,” Hank growled before directing other agents to surround the group in the middle and keep people clear.

“Astra... Astra!” Alex shouted until the woman opened her eyes trying not to crawl away from everyone around her.  “Cat push harder.” The woman did as she was instructed, while her free hand kept Astra’s head steady across her thighs.  

“I need a belt!” She hit at one of the agents nearby who stripped off the requested item with a whip of a sound before dropping it to the floor. “Here, help me get this around her..” Alex tagged Lena to help as she knelt down within the surround of agents, guiding the belt under Astra’s body as Alex pulled the two halves up and fit the end through the clasp. “On three move your hand Cat.”

“Okay.” Cat waited, feeling the heat of blood starting to coat her palm through the fabric.

“One, two, three, move!” With the last word, Alex threw all of her weight into yanking hard on the free end causing Astra to scream out all over again with the compression. “I’m sorry. Fuck Astra, I’m sorry. I’m going to fix it, you dumb tree.”

“We have to get her out of here.” Cat stated, clearing the woman’s face of her hair and keeping her steady just as she heard Supergirl demanding the agents between her and the rest of them get out of her way.

“There’s a transport coming.” Hank’s voice broke through as he waved agents aside in order to let Supergirl pass without incident.

“Not fast enough,” Alex shouted as Cat reached for her in order to calm her down.

“She needs you steady Alexandra.”  The younger woman nodded shakily, twisting the belt around her left hand tighter. “We need more packing to try and stop the bleeding.”

Supergirl moved around them all, feeling her strength eb again, causing her to hit the ground harder than intended between Alex and Cat as she knelt down.  She took hold of her Aunt’s hand firmly, speaking to her in Kryptonian. Astra gave a broken nod before speaking through clenched teeth, tapping at the base of her neck when words failed her, only to lash out and grapple Lena’s dress causing the woman to drop to her knees beside Astra with a small shout of surprise.

“What? What’s wrong? What’d I do?!” Lena asked the woman struggling in her aunt’s lap before she looked up and felt her blood run cold. Cat saw the shift in Supergirl’s expression for only a second before reaching for Astra’s hand around her niece’s dress in order to lace her own fingers through the Kryptonian’s and give her something else to squeeze.

Supergirl felt the drain on her body increase immediately as Lena pitched closer, only to look up at the woman across from her and the green stone set around her neck. Lena’s eyes grew wider, her mouth dropping as she watched the heroine in front of her being to struggle.

“Oh my god..”  Lena’s frightened tone pulled Cat’s attention back up, her heart nearly stopping at what started to transpire all over again in front of her.

“No...oh please…” Cat felt the weight of the world crashing in on her as the truth broke across her back like a bullwhip.

As Lena leaned closer she saw the flush of green burn its way across Supergirl’s skin before the woman growled around her own pain.  Cat and Supergirl’s eyes locked, just as the heroine's turned that same unearthly green color as Astra's and everything fell into place.

“Evangelena! Take the necklace off!” Cat’s words pulled the attention of the others, causing her niece to look confused until she remembered that it was the necklace her own mother had given Cat to wear to this event.

“Agent Donovan.” Hank’s voice was sharp, the nearby agent coming to his side. “Get that back to HQ as soon as she’s relieved of it.” No sooner did the words leave the director’s mouth, than Lena broke the clasp in her haste to get it off.

“Here! Take it, take it, take it.” Lena demanded, shaking it off her hand into a clear bag the agent had produced from one of his many pockets before tucking it away and immediately vacating the area.

“Whatever that blade is made of is the same as that necklace isn’t it?” Cat added dangerously, pulling Supergirl’s focus again before she gave a hard nod. She breathed heavily, the green haze of her eyes fading once the agent was far enough away. Already she saw some relief on Astra’s features while her own body continued to recover.

“Alex… I can… I can pull it out now.”

“NO!” Alex whirled on her sister. “She’ll just bleed out. The second you grab that thing, it’s going to do exactly what that necklace just did. Except it's jagged where it broke off.  Even if you could grab it and pull it out it’s going to tear both of you up no matter how quick or careful you think you can be.

“Rao be damned Alex! If I don’t get it out of her now she’ll bleed to death regardless!!”

“Supergirl!” Cat shouted, silencing both of them as they looked at her.  “They were after _you_.” Cat swallowed the waiver of her voice away, eyes never leaving the masked woman’s own.  The second she had made the connection to Lillian, to her own connection to that woman, her mind had been steadfast on guilting her into some fault of responsibility for what was happening right now.  

“I know you’re scared…” Cat took a deeper breath, keeping her own tears from falling by sheer will of her convictions. “I know, you want to help her. She seems very important to you but you cannot compromise yourself.” She tried to will her voice to carry the understanding of this greater picture developing around them to the heroine staring at her.   

“Not right now, not even for a second.”  She squeezed Astra’s hand when she felt the woman actually encourage her to continue despite all her pain. “Because even with all these federal agents and everything they have to offer,  the only thing I trust to keep me or any of us safe right now is you.”

“She’s my family.” Supergirl looked down to Astra. Her own strength returning completely on the rush of adrenaline while her aunt’s frame continued to struggle. Supergirl murmured something else in her native language to her aunt before looking up at Alex and apologizing. Cat and Lena exchanged glances between each other while Hank barked more orders into the comms, demanding the ETA and location of the emergency transport.

“ _Rao… please....”_ Astra growled again, her head pitching back against Cat’s thighs as the human squeezed one hand and Supergirl the other. “ _Brave One… remove it… before I tear it ou-out myself...I will recover...just-”_ Astra let out another loud groan of pain.

“I can’t... ” Alex plead, the transport was taking too long, even if they removed the Kryptonite from her now there was still the ride to the D.E.O. to contend with. Her words rung in her head as she looked around at the agents standing guard and finally their director.  He turned an instant after as if having read her mind while she ripped at her dress and pressed the fabric against the packing Cat had already provided, her intention set.

“Keep the wound packed and hold this.” Alex handed the belt end off to Supergirl who did as she was told, feeling the edge of her powers wain again as she set her hand on her aunt’s chest.

“Hank… Hank please.” Alex was up and in front of him. “I need you to get that thing out, I know just as much as anyone you’re not supposed to but you know this is different. She’s going to bleed to death before that transport gets here. The longer that thing stays inside her the higher the chance it has to get into her bloodstream and poison her...”

Hank flexed his jaw, knowing what she was asking of him, it wouldn’t be a matter of grabbing at the exposed end and pulling. He’d already heard that argument, this was about what Alex knew he was capable of as a Martian.

“If I pull it out of her I’m going to have to widen the wound first which is going to make her bleed even more while using a leatherman or something worse like pliers and hoping I don’t snap pieces off while I do it. That’s assuming Supergirl can even hold Astra down enough to keep her still.”  Alex put her hand on his arm then, holding on as tight as she could manage.

“Once it’s exposed you know it will weaken them both and like Cat said, we don’t know if this is even over yet. So unless you’ve got a lead glove hidden in there somewhere I need you to get it out of her…” Alex begged while the others surrounding Astra looked on.  

“Alex!” Supergirl shouted with a twinge of panic. “The bleeding isn't stopping and if I pull any harder I’m going to break her ribs.  If you’re going to do something do it now.”

Astra placed Cat’s hand on Supergirl’s shoulder with her own, squeezing weakly while Cat made up the difference.  Cat continued to stroke the fingers of her free hand through Astra’s hair, urging her to try and stay still and awake.  Lena was trying to help Supergirl, both hands surrounding the wound at Astra’s chest as she pressed a folded set of dinner napkins against the flow.

“J’onn please…” Alex’s voice broke and a second after, the man pulled back from her.

He knew she was right, and knew how much worse this would be if it were Supergirl on the floor and not Astra.  He knelt down where Alex had been prior, feeling the young woman’s presence as she came up behind them. A second after Alex felt Supergirl’s shoulder press into her leg to stabilize her and ground the both of them.  

Hank leaned over the general’s frame, her skin pale, body shaking and surrounded in her own blood.  “This won’t feel great, just try to stay still and breathe.” Astra nodded against Cat’s lap, tightening her hold on her and Supergirl’s hands as she braced herself for what was about to happen.

Hank eased Lena’s grip away from the wound, instructing all of them to hold Astra down before he set his fingers against the wound, phasing his hand into her body.  Astra’s eyes went wide and she bit down hard, releasing another painful growl through clenched teeth as Hank adjusted his density to fit around the Kryptonite blade.

“It’s pressing against her heart,” Hank warned looking over at Alex.

“Damn it..” Alex swore, stepping around Hank and setting herself astride Astra’s body, working around Hank’s position as she pulled apart some of the makeshift compression bandages. “Lena right?” The woman nodded. “Make a pocket around here, Supergirl help her. When he gets this out I’m going to have to reach in there.”

“Are you crazy?” Supergirl stated while Astra writhed and pressed back into Cat’s lap.  “I’ll be able to see inside, I can-”

“Exactly, see inside and tell me if I’ve found the puncture and if it’s mending. I can keep the proper pressure without tearing her apart until that shit is far enough away from her.”

“She knows what she's doing,” Cat added. “Trust me, and trust her.”

Supergirl nodded as Astra tried not to cry out.

“On your order Hank.”

The man nodded, forming around the blade and Alex placed her hand beside his waiting.

“One, two, go!”

Hank phased the knife into his hand as Alex pushed in beside him while Astra screamed her lungs raw. Lena made a pack around Alex’s hand while Supergirl and Cat held the woman down.

“Left Alex move left... yes! There press there!”

“I got it. Hank out!”

On her order, he extracted his hand leaving Alex's to take up the space while Kara pulled on the belt again and Lena pushed around the wound to staunch the near black flow rising up.

Hank was up in an instant, shouting at people to clear a path as he raced across the room towards the outside balcony while Vasquez called for an all clear of the area below. Instructing agents to target the director for whatever he was about to drop and recover it.

“Transport’s here!”

“Clear them a path now!” Hank barked as he stepped back to the group, looking down at the woman who had grown paler even in the time he had stepped away.

“What do you see?” Alex questioned looking at her sister. If the thready pulse beside her hold and the slight leak of fluid she still felt around it were any indicators-

“She’s not healing.”  Supergirl hid the break in her voice as she reaffirmed her grip on Astra’s hand despite feeling her aunt’s fingers beginning to weaken.

“Supergirl I’m going to need you to help them,” She nodded to Cat and Lena. “As well as those agents to get Astra and me on that thing as carefully as possible. I know how these guys work, they’re rough and quick and it's not intentional, it’s about making seconds matter.” She was assuming, of course, the transport team was comprised of medics or former EMT’s. “If I move even a few millimeters I could lose my hold and she’ll bleed out.”

“Can’t I just fly her-”

“No, listen to me, you would have to carry both of us and hope not to jostle us around, I know how you fly when you’re not upset. It’s not a bad idea, just not the best one for Astra right now.”

“ _Little One…”_ Astra struggled for air, pulling Supergirl’s attention as well as the others. “ _Know... that I have never...been more proud. l-love you….”_ She gasped, feeling pain lance through her body like a haze instead of a raging fire as her vision shifted to a single spectrum. “ _I would do what I have done again.”_

“Astra… Astra don’t you dare....” Supergirl growled, the chill of Astra’s hand finally seeping into her skin.

“What?” Lena questioned, looking at those that understood the woman while Cat cut a knowing look in her direction, she didn’t have to speak whatever language the woman in her lap did to understand.  The tone alone was universal, as was the immediate response from both Supergirl and Alex.

“Say goodbye.” Hank supplied as he heard a commotion from the mezzanine above, hand immediately settling on his sidearm until he heard Diana’s voice over the comm.

“Astra don’t you give up, not like this. Not when I’ve got your fucking heart in my hand do you understand me?!” Alex’s voice broke as she swallowed the rest of her emotions down, remembering what she was told in the hospital, she wasn’t allowed to break. Wasn’t allowed to feel beyond the clinical, not when the life in her hands could feel everything and needed to know they were safe and stable, or at least believe that they were.  This was why you never worked on someone you knew.

“Alexandra…” Astra rasped, reaching up with her free hand to touch the woman’s face speaking in Alex's own language for the first time since they encountered one another. “My Brave One. Y-you are...so fierce..f-full of so many...things...I regret... not being allowed...to dis-discover them all...”

Cat flexed her jaw, swallowing hard as she looked over at Supergirl then, tears breaking past her lashes as she kept Astra’s head stable and never stopped the soothing touch of her fingers across the woman’s features and into her hair.

Alex reached for Astra’s hand then, placing it over her own heart and keeping it there before leaning over and setting their foreheads together. Only to feel her heart shatter when the usual wave of bonding she felt when she had tried the touch of life with Kara never came.  “Don’t take my heart with you please..”

Supergirl stared at Cat then, eyes burning with tears while her face remained stoic, trying to convey every possible thought she could about never wanting to be in this situation or the reverse.  

Ever.  

Cat shook her head once, swallowing hard enough for Supergirl to hear, fighting back against whatever it was the other woman was making her mind up over before mouthing three of the simplest, yet most complex words in any language. “ _I love you.”_

The medical agents were lead by Diana who cut a path through those that remained like a knife. In a rush they dropped their gear around them, moving like some kind of machine stripping away the sodden materials and packing the wound around Alex’s hand proper while taking vitals where they could and assessing the situation.  

With a growl all her own Alex sat back up as Astra’s eyes slipped closed, shouting out orders and commands to the newly arrived agents. Hank’s declaration that she was in charge of the situation and had as near as much authority as he did on the matter kick-started the stunned team as they adapted accordingly.

The women around Astra moved in perfect unison with the help of the medical agents and Alex’s direction.  Maneuvering the prone Kryptonian in order to get her strapped to a board to keep her as immobile as possible and to give Alex more leverage where she remained astride the woman’s body before they lifted the pair onto a gurney.  

From there Alex ordered Hank, Diana, and Supergirl to carry them, knowing it would be faster and they would be able to regulate their movement far better than the agents surrounding them.  It would expose both directors but given the circumstance, it could easily be explained away with adrenaline.

Hank ordered Vasquez to lead point from her eye in the sky position and ensure the remaining teams secured the area, witnesses, and anything else they could. Not only for damage control but anything or one they may have missed in the commotion of it all.

On Alex’s count, the trio picked the pair up and moved, lead by Lena and Cat. The younger of the pair racing ahead and recruiting those that remained and had some sense of awareness to them to hold open doors or clear other obstacles in her race towards the elevators.  Cat ran point like she was born to it, the inarguable command in her tone forcing people back as she spoke, running along the path carved by her niece. Supergirl and the others were hot on her heels as a wave of agents flanked them all.

“Winn, I need you to straight line a route through the city to your location,” Hank ordered, knowing the kid could manage that like a toddler could playdough.  Diana looked at Cat and Lena before cutting her eyes to Hank and finally Supergirl, speaking volumes with her silence as they descended in the elevator.

“I have to stay behind,” Cat stated against the growing tension within the silence.

“What-no,” Supergirl spoke up roughly before being silenced with a sharp look from the other woman.

“Listen to me, there was enough press here as it was, after this, they’ve had time to circle like sharks.”  Cat looked down at herself, thankful for the black of her outfit, even if it was half soaked it wouldn’t show outside of appearing wet if anyone got a picture of her from below the waist.

“The second those doors open we’re not going to be able to move and Astra is going to die in here with us all.”

“I can radio ahead to the agents below, we’ll have a clear path-”

Cat shook her head, eyes never leaving Supergirl.

“There’s not enough agents in the world to keep a swarm like that back. Even if we do make it through, we’ll all be the leading story for every newspaper, blog site and national news hour from here to Tristan da Cunha.”  Cat was already adjusting her hair, tugging on her jacket while Lena actually moved to step closer to her aunt.

“Redirect your transport to the parking garage and have your agents form a wall around the elevators on the lobby level. Lena and I will get off and with enough luck, no one will see any of you or be waiting below in attempts to follow you.”

“Cat please.” Supergirl tried, wishing she could just fly this entire elevator car to the D.E.O.

“You’re just as much a target as Supergirl Miss Grant.” Hank allowed, he understood the media mogul’s concern but was actually on Supergirl’s side with this one.  “Maybe more what with going this far to help.”

“And I’m not going to let them think they’ve won by running away and hiding, even if I know that’s not what’s happening here.”  Cat looked at the two directors, then to Alex over Astra before finally leveling on Supergirl.

“I trust you. I know you’ll hear me, even if you tell me right now you can’t or won’t be able to.” Cat’s voice resonated deep into her chest as she pushed every syllable against the fear trying to cling to her spine.  

“I’m going to do this and nothing is going to happen to me.” Cat’s words were filled with so much emotion that even Diana had to turn her eyes somewhere else.

Supergirl swallowed audibly, the gurney under her grasp whining as she tightened her hands around the metal.  Despite how numb her body felt, Cat still managed to touch her deep down to her core and ensure that flame fighting against the darkness within herself remained lit. She gave the barest of nods, forcing her senses to hyperfocus on Cat’s body praying she could maintain it as their proximity to one another widened.

“Now,” Cat said with a husky contralto, cutting her eyes to Hank. “Radio your agents...”


	44. The Ties That Break Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Truths and lies are revealed as Astra fights for her life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank the fanfic gods for the Chupester and the betas

Agent’s flooded the halls, pushing open doors and clearing checkpoints as the transport team barreled onward. Every agent was on their feet, stock still as they watched their directors and Supergirl carrying Astra and Alex towards the medical wing of the D.E.O.  Vasquez could already be heard shouting orders to clear floors and prep one of the labs. Her hand reaching out to grab for Winn’s shoulder as he got up from the dais in an attempt to follow.

Alex was relaying additional instructions to the team surrounding her, her body sore from trying to keep still, her fingers felt numb and her shoulder burned from the angle she had to maintain.  Hank, Diana, and Kara had ensured the pair barely moved and even when they had it was no more disruptive than a buoyant ripple of a feeling as if they were lazing about on a raft in a pool. Even during the breakneck transport to where they were now.  

Alex shouted for some kind of scrubs as her sister helped her up enough for the backboard to be removed while Diana and Hank kept Astra from being jostled about.  A manual respirator counted the seconds with each forced breath while other agents cut apart Astra’s clothes, careful not to injure her further.

Kara helped Alex into a pair of scrub pants, pulling her dress apart below the waist and tossing the excess material aside.  Medical staff worked around the two, taping down leads and wrapping the lower half of Astra’s body in an attempt to keep her temperature elevated sounding off as her stats came up on the monitors.

Hank broke away, racing down the hall as Vasquez said something in his comm system.  

“Her pressures dropping.”

“Why isn't she healing?!”

Hank rushed back in, followed by Eliza as they grabbed two other techs and started setting up a light rig.

“Alex.. give me her status.” Her mother's voice was strong and no-nonsense, kicking her daughter into gear.

S-sh-she’s in hypovolaemic shock, penetrating trauma with full rotational twist resulting in laceration of sur-surrounding tissue…” Alex tried to breathe, rubbing the side of her face with her shoulder.  “I-I-I think her pericardium is filling up but I can’t even be sure cause I don’t know if she has a pericardium…”

“We have two, around each heart.”

“Each heart?!”

“The secondary is lower in the center.”

“What is your hand holding Alexandra?” Eliza questioned, moving Kara back and to the side.  

“Her heart…the..the big one I guess?” Alex swallowed hard, willing herself to stay clinical. “My fingers are...they’re inside one of her ventricles main-maintaining pressure.”  

“What’re you missing? If the object was removed why would she not be recovering?”

Alex searched the air in front of her, brow furrowing as she tried to focus on her fingers.  She moved them slightly, feeling the pain from keeping the position for so long and something else just outside of her reach.  

“Status Alex… while you think..”

“E-extreme tachycardia, thready pulse and it’s…”  She pushed further feeling a sharp prick as her eyes went wide. “There’s a piece still inside.”  The monitors went erratic in the next second as Eliza called out commands. “Oh god... it's fluttering. She’s going into vfib! Kara, I need you to hit her in the chest with the side of your hand.”

“What?!” Kara, Eliza, and Hank all responded, while others in the room looked confused.

“We can’t defibrillate her, her heart is going to stop if you don’t do this. Now make a fist and hit her with the side of your hand right in the middle of her sternum. Hard enough to jolt her heart but not break her. I know you can see exactly where you need to hit...”

“Alex I..what if I miss-”

“Kara! Do it.”

Alex shifted as much as she could, keeping her hand in place as she leaned out of the way looking at her sister.

“Do it now Kara or she’ll die!”  Eliza shouted at Alex as Kara looked between the two of them and then her aunt.

“KARA JUST DO IT!”

Kara moved, striking as Alex told her to in a split second of movement until Eliza pulled her back, checking Astra’s vitals.    
  
“I can feel it, she’s evening out... heart rate is very low but she’s not quivering.”  Alex let out a shuddering exhale, looking at the others in the room and leveling on Hank.  “I need that knife, a picture, whatever you pulled out... something, I need to know how much is still in her.”

“Alex we have to try and stitch her up.”

“And unless you can get blood out of Kara without exposing her to Kryptonite and hope it doesn’t kill Astra at the same time, I can’t move my fingers. The end of the knife must’ve broken off but I don’t know how much and Kara needs to get out of here.”

“NO, I’m not-”

“Kara she’s right,” Eliza stated,

“But I can help, I know Kryptonian physiology, I can-”

“You’re going to leave this room. You’re not going to go far because yes you know Kryptonian physiology and I may need you again but not right now.” Alex looked at her sister. “You need to go. This is not going to get better, this is going to get worse.”

‘Alex you can’t-”

“Kara listen to me, I’m not going to do anything other than what you see right now.  My arm feels like jello, the middle of my hand is numb and my fingers are on fire but right now they’re the only thing keeping Astra from dying.  Hank is going to get you out, he’s going to get someone to get me a picture of that damn knife and Mom is going to try and go in there and get it.”  Alex swallowed hard, eyes bloodshot and her resolve was clearly beginning to break.

“I can’t move, if I could I would go with you because I don’t want to be in here, I have never wanted to see her or you like this ever.  So please, please, get out of here so I can stop being your sister and trying to protect you. So I can stop calling her Mom instead of Eliza and stop looking at Astra and think anything but what I should be focused on right now which is keeping her alive.” Alex took a rough breath, forcing out an even harsher one in an attempt to keep herself together.

“I want to be the person outside who gets to yell and scream and blame everyone in this room personally if they fail, not the one who failed. So please, Kara, get out.”

Kara stepped back along with Hank as Diana radioed to Vasquez about the knife blade they had recovered from when Hank had thrown it down.  Kara blinked numbly, nothing but the sound of her heartbeat reverberating in her ears. Even if she knew Hank was talking to her and there were plenty of sounds to be heard given the situation.  

A sudden thought hit her, followed by the slow build of each sound breaking through the muffled din into perfect clarity.

“Where’s Carter?”

“What?”

Kara looked at Hank more directly, her expression stoic and posture reflecting the same as if she had become completely detached. “Eliza was watching him, she’s in there, which means he’s here.  Where is, Carter?”

Diana stepped over then, setting a hand on Kara’s shoulder. “He’s in their apartment quarters higher up with Jeremiah.”

“Thank you.” Kara gave a nod and turned when Hank moved to stop her Diana held him back with a shake of her head.  The pair watched as Kara stalked down the halls, headed for the elevator until an agent came rushing at them with photographs in hand.

Kara moved like a machine, walking down the hall, knocking on the door where her parents were staying within the DEO. Jeremiah met her as Carter made noises in the background., When she tried to step inside he redirected her to the kitchen area and handed her a towel. She stood confused for a moment before looking down. Her hands shook involuntarily, her skin mottled with dried remnants of Astra’s life.

Jeremiah reached around her, guiding her to the sink a second after as he turned the water on hot, urging her hands underneath the flow as it started to steam.  Kara rubbed her hands over and over, pushing her skin hard enough to turn it white until the water ran clear.

Grabbing another towel Jeremiah wet one end, sweeping it across the front of her and along her arms until her suit was clean.  Kara nearly tore the thing apart as she rubbed her hands dry while Jeremiah set a steady hand on her shoulder.

“Breathe…”

Kara felt the bands around her chest loosen slightly with his voice, she felt the slightest pressure of his hand tightening around her but nothing more. She pulled in a breath with his suggestion, letting it out slowly as he pulled her closer and wrapped her up in a hug.  Her arms stuck up under his own, chin resting on his shoulder as he squeezed tighter.

“She’ll be ok.” Jeremiah’s voice was calm, low, rumble of a sound. “Alex and Eliza, everyone here, are going to do everything they can.”

“ _Everyone except me.”_ She thought.  

Jeremiah gave Kara another hard squeeze, feeling the barest amount of pressure in return as he stepped back. Watching her attention shift as Carter made another noise from the other room. She rounded the small edge of the kitchen wall, crossing the floor until she came upon the makeshift playpen he was in.

His eyes were wide as she approached the edge of it slowly, her mind suddenly reminding her that she was still in her suit and was not the woman he knew as his nanny.  Carter watched her carefully, the edges of his mouth lifting more so with curiosity than amusement before he reached up to her.

Kara picked him up effortlessly, wrapping an arm just around his legs so he could sit on her forearm as her other hand fanned out over his back to help him maintain his balance.  He searched her features for a moment before reaching out and taking hold of her face where her mask still covered the greater extent of her features.

She searched his face wearily, watching him touch and prod the mask before looking back to her eyes, still clinging to her. He pulled her closer, bonking their foreheads together as his hands locked behind her neck.

“Needs a hugs, Mama.”

“Kara.” She corrected automatically, her own name falling out of her mouth before she could stop it.  

He shook his head against her own, tightening his arms around her even more for a half second before he leaned back.  His hands touched her mask again, studying it carefully before looking up at her more directly.

“Dis Angelsaurus Mama.” He said as if that explained everything in the world, his little fingers pulling at the mask.  She dipped her head down, reaching up to release the mechanism that kept it in place before allowing him to pull it down. “Dis Mamasaurus Mama.”  He let go of her mask, making two circles with his fingers and holding them just in front of her eyes like they were her own glasses. “Dis Karasaurus Mama.”

Kara felt her throat closing, coupled with the burn along the back of her eyes as he put his hands down before putting their foreheads together again. “All Mama.”

“Kara…” She corrected around the stone in her throat before wrapping him up again tightly.

 

**\-------**

 

Lillian paced around her hotel room, fingering the chain around her own neck.  She was washed and changed and looked every bit as apprehensive as she should be. A feeling that grew even more as she heard the din of the television and the reports concerning the incident at the Seraphim.

She knew her son had been fashioning all manner of things from the Kryptonite samples., Weaponization had been a consideration but she hadn’t expected it to be an actuality as of yet. She walked herself through the entirety of events during the party. Running across Diana, basically disowning her daughter, glimpses of her sister’s newest conquest as Cat tossed out the trash of her ex-husband and other little nuances that had crossed the timeline of her evening.  

A part of her prayed that whoever it was that Lex had tasked with the attack, was either dead by now or had enough resolve to keep his mouth shut.  Her track was disturbed with her next turn when she nearly smacked into her son, straightening back from him and moving around his frame as he chuckled around a sip of his newly poured drink.

“You seem so stressed Mother.”

“Should I not be?  That was reckless Alexander.” She admonished, moving away from him across the room to look out the window at the city.  

“Reckless?”  He shifted his jaw and gave a small nod. “Reckless.  I see.”

Lillian tracked his movements in the reflection of the windows, watching him refresh his drink before turning to look at her without advancing further just yet.

“Reckless?! I would have said it was fantastic!  We saw exactly what that stuff can do-”

“To someone else.” She growled, her fingers twisting the chain around her neck.

“To someone else _like her_.” He hissed.  “That was not a weapon I forged in that pressure chamber Mother, that one was pure and specially made just for Supergirl. Which means-”

“The woman who your little errand boy stabbed is just like her.”  Lillian tipped her chin up slightly, trying to pull the memory of that particular woman throughout the night.  The woman who, for nearly the past twelve years, had been her little pet project. It was that woman’s blood that was responsible for the little experiment Lex had given her the week before.

“As lucrative as that revelation is, with my intended method it could have easily been explained away as an accident. A complete misunderstanding of the necklace. Cat would have been suspicious no doubt but she wouldn’t be fully aware like she is now.” She turned to look over her shoulder at him. “Your little ill-placed dagger has ruined any prospect of keeping us in the periphery of all this. Not to mention the whole thing is rife with issues, not the least of which was failing to tell me about it.”

Lex set his drink down, slowly closing the distance between them with a flare of anger.

“Who _cares ?_ Oh no, precious little Aunt Kitty, the runt of the litter just like Lena… whatever will we do? I’m so scared.” He mocked before Lillian slapped him, or at least tried to. He caught her wrist just shy of impact, having learned from the last time.  

“You make it seem as if there was a choice to be made, or some kind of side to stand on here.” He twisted his mother’s arm, leaning closer as she balled her fist. “You said it yourself, Aunt Cat is the key. Supergirl revealed herself when Cat was in danger.  She practically threw you from CatCo’s balcony until Cat tamed her.” He pushed his mother back, feeling her body wince even if her expression remained impassive as her back pressed into the cold glass of the window.

“She views herself as a god and so does Cat if that magazine cover is any indicator. You saw the _sickening_ display between the two of them in front of everyone.  If Aunt Kitty wasn’t brainwashed by that creature, then she’s willfully complicit in any plans against our world that things like Supergirl intend for us. I’m sorry Mother, I don’t want to have anything to do with that beyond a necessary means.” He let her go with a bit of a shove, turning and walking back towards his drink.

Lillian breathed heavily, watching her son step away as icicles formed along her spine.

“I have no doubt, some of those military types will come crawling.  LexCorp already has a multitude of government contracts. With the k-compounds, the lab has been working on they’re going to double, maybe even triple.  Be prepared and all that. Don’t mistake my actions for recklessness Mother, I exposed her tonight, maybe by only a sliver but the seed is there.”

“For?”

“For what could happen if she ever lost control.”  Lex took another full sip of his drink, turning to look back at the woman. “I know exactly how we’re going to make that happen.”

“Are you going to tell me this time, or is that privileged information that only you need to know ?”

“Depends on you.” He allowed quietly, leaning back into the bar edge as he stared at her from across the room.  

“Do you know what’s more frightening than illegal immigrants in this country Mother?” He stared her down, watching as she put her back to him again.

“Aliens on this planet… existing or thinking they can as if they're human. Nothing more than mimics, mocking us, feeding off this planet for their own means. Taking away our resources, jobs, money, ideology....” He narrowed his eyes slightly. “Some might even be here for reconnaissance. We know this Supergirl is not the only alien.  She’s not even the only one of her kind...”

Lex chuckled to himself with a wickedly amused edge. “Well after tonight, she might be the only one of her kind but think of the others.  The ones you didn’t extinguish and learn about for our betterment. Those that weren’t contained by that other excuse for a defense organization Marsdin chose over you, over Cadmus, over humanity.”

“We are not alone in the universe,” He gestured in a wide arc before pointing at his mother. “And neither are they.  We have to stop them, prevent them from bringing more of their ilk here. Or worse yet, preparing the rest of their kind for invasion or hostile takeover. They’ve had years to gather information on us. Lying in wait like a cancer. Until we’re vulnerable, weakened and sympathetic to their cause thanks to Supergirl and that D.E.O.  We need to purge them, cut them out… it’s survival mother. Pure and simple. Us or them.”

“This is the depends part, so pay attention Mother. It has always been us or them.” His forcible tone made her turn enough to look at him. “You taught me that. Tonight was a test of many things. A test of our enemies, our family, our resolve and our willingness to do what it takes without hesitation.”.  He drained his glass and set it down as Lillian turned completely. The pair of them on opposite sides of the room as if a line had been drawn in the proverbial sand.

“What's it going to be, us or them?”

 

**\-------**

 

Cat paced around her suite, as highlights from her impromptu press conference on the steps of the hotel she had managed to spin the horrific panic driven chaos into a bid for hope and prosperity against the tyrannical intention of fear.  A point that was only driven home further by Marsdin who followed her with comments concerning Supergirl and this supposed whisper of a movement against her.

Under any other circumstances, it would be a thing to behold. A platform to grow and build on especially with any political prospects that were going to start brewing within the next year or two. Aside from that, Cat had every possible element of her public relations division and legal going over everything they would need to cover any sort of lawsuit or claim that might be slung her way.  She had assured the Seraphim's owners that they would be enveloped into that, with CatCo and Cat herself taking full responsibility. She also pledged to make up any losses, within reason, as a result of the evening’s chaos.

She, Lena and any guest that had remained had given statements to NCPD, the Secret Service, and the FBI as they had all been privy to the night's unplanned events.  She had already turned over the guest list, security list, hotel staffer list and every other list that would ensure her assistant Karen and the vast majority of CatCo's forces would be up and running for the next week on the matter alone.

Lena was passed out in another room within the presidential suite. The weight of the evening and her mother's hand in it, coupled with countless interviews and her vehement refusal to leave Cat’s side during the press conference, had done the woman in.

She glanced at the clock one more time, counting even more minutes to the running tally of hours that had transpired since she had walked off that elevator, having left Kara and the others behind. There had been no phone call, no message, not even a whisper from those in the elevator since and she wasn't about to make matters worse by trying to contact any of them.

Lois had texted her, saying they needed to meet before she left town but certainly not tonight. The only other message she had received was from Eliza via voicemail as it had come in the middle of her statements to the press. Carter was with her and safe. right now that was enough, so long as she tried not to dwell on it.

Cat drew another deep breath, catching sight of one more photograph from someone's cell phone showing Supergirl holding the man that had been apprehended by the throat, eyes burning bright. Looking every bit the alien invader some had circled around in veiled commentary.   She shifted her jaw then, grabbing her cell phone and punching in a number. By the third ring, the man on the other end answered.

“Get me every photo you have on Supergirl from my balcony, tonight or any other time you’ve got. Is your TV on?” She waited, still pacing. “Channel 7… I want you to clean up every damn one that shows the opposite of what they're running. That man and anyone else like him cannot have a platform to bring even more to that cause. Not in my city and with enough luck not beyond it either.”  Cat glanced at the television again, the focus going back to her and Marsdin while they were talking to the press. Interspersed with images and footage from within the Seraphim’s grand hall over the course of the night.

“Then I want you to get down to production and flood it. Give the material to Snapper at the Tribune and tell him to do the same. I want every article, every blurb, every thought of Supergirl and her efforts towards saving the people of this city printed. Special edition, including the write up of tonight. We'll spin it with the magazine’s launch. Don't argue, don't embellish, don't even think, just do. I'm waking everyone else up right now. Any problems, you have them call me. If they refuse you call for them. Understood?”

Cat ended the call just as abruptly as it had begun. Fingers already firing off a text to her assistant to follow-up with emails for the entire company verbatim with the next text she was going to send out. She hit send and began the next message with a send all before firing off that one as well. She sent a message to Lois next, with one simple word.

“ _Yes_.”

Knowing the other woman would understand what she was referring to. If Lillian wanted to go down this path then so be it. She even fired one off to her sister Sharon, unsure if she would even answer until tomorrow, but that could be handled then. She was so involved in her directives that she didn't hear the knock on the door until it sounded a second time.

Looking up at the door she frowned, knowing there was an agent posted just outside it and one at the elevators down the hall. They were mandatory, courtesy of Olivia and the FBI agent she only knew as Henshaw. Although given what she had seen the man do with that Astra woman she guessed that was far from his real name. Where the question had been are we alone in the universe, the glaring answer now was not hardly.

Cat set her phone down, heading for the door, opening it up to the agent and the other man she recognized through the peephole.

“Mr. Danvers, what are-”

“Jeremiah, please. I know it's late and this is unexpected but I was heavily convinced that you needed this.” The man turned completely, the sleepy figure of her son wrapped in a blanket, barely holding on to his stuffed dinosaur and draped so easily over the man's shoulder nearly dropped her.  

“Carter.”

“Mommasaur,” Carter said with a sleep laden elation. He made a weak attempt to hug Jeremiah thanking him with his own moniker that Cat likened to a triceratops.  Cat watched the man hug her son gently, easing him off his shoulder and into his mother's arms, ensuring she had a solid hold of him before stepping back.

“Eliza and I will get his things to Kara for you.”

“Thank you, Jeremiah. I… I'm sorry for putting your daughters in any kind of-” Her words fell silent as the man held up a hand.

“This wasn't your fault, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned, but I would hope, from what little I know about you, that you've only ever had the best of intentions. Towards either of my daughters.” There was a veiled depth to his statement and Cat felt it pull at her chest heavily.

“You had no way of knowing., Besides no matter how much Eliza and I might wish they wouldn't, Kara and Alex have always run towards dangerous situations where others run away. A fact that makes me proud to be their father and at the same time terrifies me to no end.”

Cat understood that on a completely different level. That reporter side of her could relate to where Kara and Alex might come from, whereas the sleepy figure in her arms made it easy to relate to their parents’ point of view.

“I... don't know how to thank you, both for tonight and what you did long before now with him.”

Jeremiah gave her a warm smile, making her feel instantly at ease as he shook his head slightly. “No need. We were happy to. Try to get some rest, if you can. Oh, and before you put him down, he's got an extra something in his front pocket for you.”  Cat nodded, hugging Carter a little tighter to her.

“Goodnight Cat.”

“Goodnight.”

The agent who had remained posted eased her door shut with a small thank you from Cat before she set the locks.  She quietly made her way through the suite that was bigger than her own house if it were stretched across a single level. With practiced ease she gathered pillows along the bed, building a barricade within the center of the mattress before laying Carter down within the little nest.

He immediately curled on his side, arms wrapped around his toy, as she brought the blanket up around his she found a small piece of paper folded into his pocket. She stepped aside, turning off the overhead light, bathing them within the softer glow of a couple of lamps as she unfolded the note.

“ _Look outside”_

Cat did so instantaneously, rushing over to the floor length window in the next second. As soon as her hand touched the glass Supergirl's was pressed against the panel on the other side.  From what Cat could see the woman was haggard at best, and yet still managed to appear as strong and noble as ever.

With another hasty movement, Cat pulled away, rounding the corner into the next room headed for the terrace. Supergirl was already there, cape wide and full behind her as Cat pulled open the door, ignoring the railing entirely as she stepped onto the outdoor furniture and practically threw herself at the other woman without hesitation.

Supergirl caught her without faltering, strong arms wrapping around Cat's body and holding her close as she drifted through the open doorway.  Cat's fingers splayed out across her face, curling at the mask and feeling it give with a wave of heartache. Her other hand pressed firmly into the sigil at the other woman's chest, digging into the symbol there as if trying to reach the heart beneath.

“Are you alright?” Kara's voice was rough, darkened by emotions Cat knew too well from her own experiences. It gave one the feeling the woman wrapped around her was more vigilante than heroine.

“I've been worse,” Cat admitted, fingertips in constant contact with whatever exposed skin she could find. Kara relished in the other woman's touch, tilting her features this way and that with each tender caress.  

“The others, are they-”

“Safe and accounted for.” Cat felt Kara's body seem to relax with that statement. Her arms dipped low at Cat's waist as she lifted the shorter woman from the ground, burying her own features into the crux of Cat's neck.  Cats arms wrapped around Kara's shoulders, secreting her away while offering quiet, soothing murmurs of affection and reassurances.

Long moments passed between them, even when Cat felt the ground again. Kara bent down to her, arms never loosening, features buried away as each breath seemed deeper than the last. Cat knew Kara couldn't say the same. She felt it on a visceral level and as a result, didn't even bother to ask. Kara would tell her all on her own time. Now wasn't that time.

“Can...can I stay here?” Kara's voice was muffled against Cat's shoulder, the heat of her words washing over Cat's neck like a sandstorm in the Sahara. “Just for a little while?”

“Of course,” Cat replied, feeling the woman’s arms ease from around her as she settled back on her heels, her hands smoothing over the flat of Kara’s chest. “As long as you need.”

Kara looked as if she were on the verge of tears, even if her eyes were clear and devoid of the weight of unshed emotion.  There was just nothing left to give. Cat reached up, thumb rubbing across the other woman’s bottom lip as her fingers fanned out along the side of her face.  Kara’s eyes closed heavily, her features turning down and into the touch as she pressed a kiss into the woman’s palm.

Their fingers interlaced effortlessly. Cat drew the suited woman along with her back towards her room, stopping just inside of the doorway to look at Carter’s still sleeping form in the middle of the be. She continued pulling the woman towards the large couch nearby. She guided Kara down to the cushions, sweeping her cape aside and pushing her back into their depths before climbing on top of her wordlessly.  Kara’s hands eased around her hips, keeping Cat steady as she moved, pulling her legs onto the cushions as she stretched out, bracing her back against the arm.

Cat eased herself out over the other woman, arms wrapping her up from underneath as she nuzzled down against her chest until she felt Kara let out a slow deep breath for the first time since she had arrived.  There was a small jolt from the other woman, followed by another until the whole of her cape fluttered out and across the two of them.  Kara surrounded Cat’s body from underneath it, each hand on the opposite side of her as she set one foot flat on the cushion, bracketing them between the bend of her leg and the couch back.  She nudged her chin across the crown of Cat’s hair, soaking in her warmth as she tried to relax.

There were so many things that should have been said between them, but neither woman could find the words.  Both preferring the silent resonance of one another in the dim glow of the late hour.


	45. After We Sleep On It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara seeks answers in the Fortress of Solitude while Cat handles the consequences of the night before while entertaining one Lois Lane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awesome thanks to ChupeyDupey for beta's and reining my brain in a bit as well as @AstraDanvers for helping with stuttering points ;)

Kara landed with a whisper of a sound, boots gently scraping across crystalline floors. As she made her way towards the main console nestled in the heart of her fortress, she found her mother seated against it, looking at her expectantly.   She slowed her steps, eyes scanning over Alura’s ethereal form, already recognizing the minute changes in her posture and expression.

“You already know.” Kara’s voice echoed with a somber note as Alura nodded a single time.  

“Hard not to,” Alura said quietly. She cleared her throat and shifted a bit. “There is no other person I am connected to more than Astra.” The corner of her mouth lifted as memory filled her, pulling her features into a wistful composure.

“We were the only twins in Krypton’s history for millennia.” Alura toyed with a small shard of sunstone in her fingers. “No one could tell us apart until we got older.” She winced slightly, rubbing her fingers against the curve of her chest as Kara came to a stop in front of her.

“The first time I can remember not being able to sleep, was when it came time for us to choose the paths we were going to take for our people. Mostly, because I never seemed to figure out how without her right there.” Alura’s mind was instantly filled with endless nights from the time she could remember taking a breath until that moment. Her and her sister’s foreheads pressed together, just as they had been in the matrix. Their fingers interlaced until they seemed to be one; separating into two with each new day.

“Have you-”

“Always been able to feel her? Yes and no, I know what has been done to her, from when she first arrived here.  Although last night is the strongest I have ever felt her since we were separated.”

“Does that mean-”

“I do not know what it means exactly Little Star.  There are many possibilities ranging from how severely she has been injured, to my physical location being closer and everything in between.”

“You know that’s not the only reason why I’m here.”

Alura nodded, offering up the sunstone she had been toying with.  

“It is the full geographical composition of our planet, and any variations we ever found concerning irradiation or other anomalies.”  Alura looked at her daughter expectantly. “I am sure I do not need to tell you what information like that and other kinds here in this fortress could do under the wrong direction or intent.”

Kara nodded, sidestepping her mother and easing onto the console edge beside her as she eyed the sunstone in her grasp.

“I for one would never have conceived of our own planet being the one thing that could kill us here.” Alura offered quietly.

“Greatest weaknesses.” Kara looked over at Alura with that. The two of them searched out the unspoken truths between them before Alura looked away.  “Astra... she’s going to be alright.” Kara wasn’t even sure of that statement herself, despite the compelling need to say it aloud for the both of them.  Alura nodded a bit, her own gaze distant as she continued to rub at her chest.

“Kara… my Little Star, you have grown so much. Even in this short amount of time we have been aware of one another.”

Kara let out a sigh looking out over the expanse of the chamber they were in. “I'm scared mother.”

Alura glanced over, seeing Kara's posture deflate with the inward curve of her shoulders and the fidgety nature of her fingers holding the sunstone. “Greatest weaknesses?”  The corner of Kara's mouth lifted as she gave a definitive nod.

“Was it, was it like that for you and Father?”  Alura chuckled gently in response causing Kara to look at her with an odd expression.

“Sadly, I was not the core of the conflict between two suitors. That honor belonged to your Aunt Lara. She had the eye of many a house, but she was just as unconventional as your Uncle Jor.”

Kara blinked at her mother, turning towards her even more. “You never-”

“You were too young to really discuss it among other things going on at the time. Besides, it wasn't as if your father and I didn't come to genuinely care for one another. It just wasn't the same as what we saw in Jor-El and Lara's bonding. “

“What about Astra and Non? You always told me the reason she allowed their bonding was out of love.”

“For her people, not him. He was infatuated with her, she would just as soon as stayed a matriarchal figure without a bond-mate, devoted solely to Krypton, its people, and Rao.”

“But?”

“His associations with others who rose to infamy warranted an attempt at subversive action.”

“General Zod.”

Alura nodded. “There is quite a lot your Aunt has not shared with you. Then again the same could be said of myself.  Your age was an easy excuse then. Whereas now it is, at least for me, a kind of self-preservation I suppose of how you will view me knowing all these truths. Especially when you have much more of your own life to consider.”

“You are a part of that life Mother. Yes, admittedly, I have an idealized image of my life, our culture, everything really of Krypton from this childlike perspective. I've also realized I can't continue to be who I choose to be shrouded in this blanket of juvenile understanding.”

“Knowledge is a blessing and a curse Kara. The things you may come to discover must be considered very carefully.” Kara's expression conveyed her confusion and with a deep breath, Alura took one of Kara's hands into her own. “There are things here, that while you may come to know them, you can never use as the consequences behind them are too great.”

“I don't understand.”

“Have you studied all that your Uncle and Father sent with you here?”

Kara shook her head. “I couldn't. I refused to stay for the twelve years they requested of me. I've picked up where I left off several times but-”

“Then there is plenty you still have yet to learn. The last lesson I will warn you of simply with this. It is forbidden for you to interfere with human history,” Kara straightened at that, words already formulating in her throat before her mother held up a hand to stop her. “Rather, let your leadership stir others to.”  Kara swallowed audibly, studying her mother for a long series of moments before drawing another breath to speak.

“I… meant mostly concerning our family and other more adult-oriented things, but that seems rather important to not overlook at the moment.”  Alura laughed, filling the chamber with the sound of it.

“In time then. Those lessons will always be waiting. Your curiosity concerning your family and these so-called adult things while possibly obscured by my last statement should be addressed while I am still able.”  It was a dark reminder of her current situation but it was the truth. One she hoped Kara would focus on rather than answers to questions that she could easily acquire through the archives stored within the sunstones around them.

Kara rubbed a hand along the back of her neck.  She kneaded the cords of muscle there as she considered her options, knowing the answers Alura would give her would be genuine and less likely to be filtered through the A.I.’s that were her Father or Uncle.

“Might not be a subject you find yourself comfortable with.”

Alura hid her smirk, side-eyeing her daughter a moment. “The subject being the woman you have mated with I take it?”  Kara's eyes went wide, features turning a soft shade of red as Alura couldn't help but laugh. “Just because I am not physically there beside you does not mean that I am blind Kara. For a human, she seems quite extraordinary, given how much of her I can see within you.”

 

**\-------**

 

Cat woke up slowly, her entire body feeling as if it were weighed down by some invisible force, sapping her strength and making her limbs heavier than they should have been.  She stretched slowly, feeling the kinks from every moment of the night’s event’s ricochet over her and easily reminding her of everything that had transpired.

There was a part of her hoping it was some fevered dream, but as the news reports from the other room filtered into her awareness, she knew that was too much to hope for.  She felt warmth against her side. Easing her hand over, she felt a much smaller form than she expected.

With a squeeze of her eyes to clear them of their haze, she looked to her side, finding Carter tucked around her, still asleep.  She pushed up slightly, realizing she was on the bed, still in her suit with the pair of them covered in Supergirl’s cape.

Cat caught movement out of the corner of her eye, seeing Lena just inside the doorway, coffee in hand.  She was still in an oversized set of pajamas and given the angle of the sun it wasn’t as late in the morning as Cat initially had thought.

“I didn’t want to wake you,” Lena whispered, walking closer and offering her aunt the cup of coffee reserved for her.  

Cat eased carefully from Carter’s prone form. She filled her space with the pillow she had been partially laying on, watching him curl around it without waking. She pulled the line of that cape to his shoulder, tucking it around him before pointing to the other room where Lena followed.

“How long have you been awake?”

“Not very, I came to see if you were asleep and found you both like that.” Lena took a hearty sip of her coffee as she and Cat moved to the couch in the other room. Cat snagged the remote, hitting the mute button before curling into the corner. She cupped both hands around her mug, searching the space between them a moment or two.

“She’s not here,” Cat said with a finite edge, breaking the odd minute of silence they were in before taking a sip of her own drink.

Lena smiled with an edge of disbelief, her head shaking slightly. “I’m not even going to ask how you know that.”

Cat hummed in reply, not even sure herself how she knew. She did know though, without a single doubt.

“I’m actually glad,” Lena said after another moment, causing Cat to look up at her from across the couch with a raised eyebrow.  “I… don’t know what to say or how to say it to her.”

That sickening feeling was back with Lena’s implication about the reason behind an evening that was supposed to showcase this hero to the world ending in a panic. She glanced at the television again, watching the lower third and seeing the mention of record sales concerning her magazine and the Tribune.

“It’s not yours to have to say.” Cat allowed, looking back to Lena. “I gave you that necklace. Your mother gave it to me.  My… Lillian is the one who owes her, just as much as she owes us.”

Lena drew in a deep breath. She had been trying to let all that sink in, but still felt responsible somehow.  

“After last night, she also knows where you stand.” Cat allowed, watching her words sink into her niece. “On a great many things. I couldn’t be more proud of you if you were my own, or as scared for you.”

“Just following your example.  It’s one of the only good ones I’ve had apparently.” Lena swallowed thickly, setting her cup aside as she scooted closer to her aunt. Cat put her cup down a moment before Lena was around her, hugging her tightly.

‘You did that all yourself Evagelena.  Stop attributing all these things that you’re capable of to those around you.” Cat hugged her back just as tightly. “Ultimately you are the one making those choices, whatever they are.  The rest of us are here to support you, one way or another.”

Lena let out a relieved sigh, sitting back before running her hands through her hair as if to try and regroup the scattered parts of herself back into a whole.

“I don’t, I’m not even sure what to do now.”

Cat offered her a tight smile. “And you don’t have to have those answers now or anytime soon.  Just be aware I’m here to help you if you want me to, however you want me to. Even if that means you telling me to butt out of it all and just let you navigate through whatever it is you come up with.”

Lena let out a small laugh, giving a short series of nods to her aunt before wiping at her face. “I need to think, about a lot of things.”

Cat nodded, poised to say something more until the sound of her phone ringing nearby pulled her attention. She patted Lena’s leg gently before pushing up, grabbing the thing from the side table she had left it on last night.

“Cat Gran-... yes I’m in my room. I’ll have to clear you but- okay… Yes. Give me an hour, and bring enough for Carter and Lena.”

“Who was that?”

“Lois.” Cat dropped her phone back onto the table, looking over at her niece.  “She wants an interview, about them. I told her yes last night after everything happened.” Cat let out a huff of an exhale, rubbing her hands over her face as if to reassure herself she was still awake.

“Are you… reconsidering it now that you’ve slept on it?”

Cat gave a small nod, turning to the door and greeting the agent just beyond it.  She informed them of Lois’ would be arrival before heading back inside. Lena came around the corner just after, arms full of a sleep laden Carter who refused to let go of the cape he had been wrapped in.

“Hello, my prince,” Cat said gently as he was handed over to her.  He wrapped his arms around her neck, snuggling down against her lazily.

“Do whatever you believe in Aunt Kitty and know I’ll support you no matter what.”

 

**\-------**

 

Jeremiah laid a blanket over Alex's shoulders watching her stir only slightly before he looked at the monitors hooked up to Astra.

Constant.

Slow.

Steady.

Astra remained unconscious and unresponsive.

“She hasn't moved has she?” Kara’s voice was soft despite her more hardened, heroic appearance. Still dressed in her suit, mask down, sans cape.

“Alex came in right after you left last night. Been there ever since.” Eliza supplied from a nearby chair. Jeremiah moved closer to his wife, offering her a hand which she took after a long moment before standing. As they passed Kara, her mother squeezed her shoulder.

“You should change.”

Kara shook her head. “I still have things to do.”

“Don’t run yourself ragged, we have no idea what might be coming now.”

Kara nodded to them both before looking at Astra with Alex’s sleeping form draped across her, holding her hand. She drew a deep breath, whispering something in Kryptonese before following out after them.  She headed towards the main hub of the D.E.O. already seeing the man she wanted to talk to on the dais. Multiple agents were running over the security footage from the night before, including Vasquez while Kara could see Winn just off in some kind of lab working on something.

“Director Henshaw?” She questioned, causing a few agents to look up at her, taking in her appearance before glancing at their boss.  Hank flexed his shoulders slightly, arms still crossed over his chest as he turned to look at the woman.

“Do you think perhaps we could discuss this arrangement between the D.E.O. and myself?”

Hank looked her over a second time, turning completely before walking past her. She turned to follow him as they made their way down the hall and into a more secluded area.

Hank lead her into his office, walking around her as she seemed to stall in the center.  He moved around his desk, opening a drawer and pulling out a bottle and a pair of cups, filling them both before sliding one towards her.

“I don’t want to work for you.” She stated succinctly, arms coming to cross over her chest as she searched the spaces between them.  “After last night I do realize that asking for help and working with you are not bad options to consider.”

Hank took a sip of his drink, studying her carefully.

“If I had been a part of the team, I might have known that man was coming before he had a chance to get as close as he did.”

“And he might have stabbed you anyway. Accomplished his task just the same.”

Kara let out a slow breath giving a faint series of nods to that truth.  

“Then we would be in a world without Supergirl, and Gods only know what the Luthor’s would do with that under their belt.”

“They know there’s more than one of us.  Lillian has always been aware there were other aliens, that we know.  But I can only assume, being the target and what with the efforts they made, they didn’t expect Astra.” Kara stayed.

“True enough.  One might even assume, now, that you are the only other one. That maybe they succeeded on another level with some kind of hope that you will show your true colors and retaliate.”  Kara closed her eyes a moment with that, sending another prayer to Rao for good measure before looking heavenward.

“They’re not entirely wrong if that is the intention.  I know where that man is in this facility. You would not be able to keep him from me, even with Kryptonite.”

“Strong words.”

“I’m not going to lie about it.” She said looking over at him. “Nor I imagine would anyone else in my position, alien or otherwise.  They nearly killed Astra, and yes I mean the Luthor’s not just their errand boy.”

“He had a choice to do what he did.”

“Like Winn did?” Kara threw at him, watching Hank closely. “Don’t even bother with him, why don’t you ask Vasquez how persuasive Lillian was when she was undercover for you. The only reason her record is clean is most likely because they couldn’t find anything-”

“Enough.” Hank set his glass down, watching Kara’s body language shift into an almost apologetic stance. “She volunteered for that position due to her own demons and paid her dues accordingly.  For all I know, Lillian Luthor wasaware of just exactly who she was and had enough information to use it against her but chose not to.”

“If the wrong people were in the right positions, I can’t help but think, I’d be having this conversation with Lillian instead. Except it wouldn’t be about wanting to work alongside you as much as it would be asking what she wanted me to do next.” Kara rubbed a hand over her face, wrapping it around her jaw as she considered her words.  It was Hank’s turn to let out a heavy exhale, the weight of her words settling into his chest like a lead weight.

“Don’t think Diana and I haven’t already had our fair share of conversations concerning you with some of those higher powers after last night.”

Kara lifted her eyes to him then, wondering how the weight of this world could suddenly feel so heavy on her shoulders.

“No one has given any kind of order against you.” He said with a quiet reverence. “Although, because the right people are in the right positions and Diana’s more than persuasive methods, your offer to join us as a kind of ally is actually a benefit.” Hank watched her carefully before continuing.

“The President, along with other government officials, have determined that in the wake of last night's actions, coupled with testimonial accounts from Agent Vasquez and others here, as well as irrefutable evidence concerning Lillian Luthor, that they don't want another rogue situation on their hands. Especially when members of the current establishment have their signatures and various approvals all over the initial operations and funding of the project that woman was in charge of.”

"Meaning what exactly?”

“Meaning you've made quite an impact, given the news running across the world today. That impact stretches far beyond any reach this government and others feel they can or should control.” Kara straightened slightly, leaning on his every word.

“It's been determined that the D.E.O will no longer be classified as belonging to any one government and will be restructured accordingly into an international non-government organization.”

“What like the U.N.?”

“In a way, it frees the United States of any culpability. It allows them to save face in the wake of the Luthor’s growing actions while allowing the world as a whole to become involved in our efforts as we see fit to mandate.”

“H...how? That doesn't seem like something that would be so easily agreed-”

“Diana and I informed them, voluntarily, of just who and what we are exactly. As did a few unexpected others at that particular meeting.” Hank was still marveling at the Chief of Staff revealing himself to the room alongside the two directors in favor of Diana's recommendations for this current course of action.

“Why?!”

“As I said, you've made quite an impact.”

 

**\-------**

 

“Where’s my son?” Lillian asked of the only other individual in the room with her, looking the man over cautiously.

“He departed for Metropolis on business.”

Lillian nodded, shifting her jaw before turning her full attention to the agent in front of her.

“Are you loyal to him, or the cause?”

“Ma’am?”

“I remember you, briefly, from your service in Cadmus before you were reassigned, Agent Donovan.” She stood then, already gathering her things as she invaded the man’s space. “So I will ask you again, are you loyal to Lex, or Cadmus?”

He lifted his chin, his shoulders broadening as he looked up at the taller woman.  

“Cadmus.”

“Good. Come with me, and if you breathe a word of this to Lex, you’ll wish I hadn’t put in the transfer that spared you the first time.”

Across town, Cat, Lois, Lena, and Carter we're finishing breakfast; having easily fallen into a familiar domesticity with each other.  Lena had already cleared most of their dishes while Lois refilled coffees and Cat finished up with Carter.

Lois couldn't help but glance at the chair across the way and the cape draped over it.  Cat smirked to herself, sending the last bite of a waffle into Carter's waiting mouth.

“That's the tenth time at least.” She admonished playfully, teasing Carter with a napkin to clean him up before Lena offered to take him.

“I can't help it. That's her cape. I'd be wearing it around like it was my own.”

Cat chuckled sitting back in her seat as she took another sip of coffee. “It's not. That's why it's over there.”

Lois stretched forward, looking for Lena and Carter before turning her eyes conspiratorially to Cat. “So what's she like?”

Cat raised a high eyebrow at the question.

“Don’t look at me in that tone of voice. How else would you get it off her?”

“You're awful.” Cat tossed a napkin at the other woman. "She took it off herself and covered me and Carter up because we were asleep you dolt. Don't tell me your love life is so lacking that you have to fabricate lewd scenarios like that.”

“Mine's just fine thank you.”

“I would've said adventurous given the height alone on Diana.” Cat moved to the side as a napkin flew past her. “Throwing stones I see.” Cat made a 'tsk’ sound against her teeth.

“Oh shut up hussy. I'm not the one with two women under my belt.”

“I never said anything about either being under my belt, even if they were you’d be the last to know.” Cat pushed to a stand, taking her coffee with her as she moved over to the wall of windows, searching out over the skies.

“How many times have you done that in a single day?” Lois questioned, watching her friend from across the room

“Less than you’d think, but more than I’d care to admit.”

Lois studied Cat’s profile for a lingering moment, eyes running over her entire frame before leaning back in her own seat with an audible exhale.

“You don’t want to do this interview do you?” It was more statement than question, one that was only reaffirmed when Cat dropped her head from the height of the skies in front of her.

“It's not exactly that. I'm not sure if I want to give them more incentive or power after sleeping on it.”

“How so?”

Cat sighed and turned to look at Lois. “How many times have you exposed something and ended up having your life or the life of one of your sources put in danger? Maybe even more danger than just living with that knowledge in silence would have been?”

“More times than I care to count, but ultimately it's been worth it. To expose those truths, it makes the people behind it act irrationally and they tend to screw up somewhere that's better for everyone in the long run.”

Cat nodded. “True, but we're not talking about mob families and drug cartel's.  We’re not even talking corrupt politicians. As powerful as they can be, even the worst of them have codes they live by.”

“So you’re saying your sister has no morality? No code of ethics or-”

“No, I… believe Lillian has them, however misguided or ruled by fear or some other irrational logic, she has them.  She gave me something before the party, under this fallacy of a truce between us. Something happened in our conversation shortly after and instead of wearing it, which would have meant submitting to my sister and her ideology, I gave it to Lena.”

Lois leaned forward in her seat, studying Cat closely as she moved to set her cup down and pace about slowly.

“It was underhanded, manipulative, but when I really think about it...? If that had been the only thing to have played a factor, I could see myself believing a scenario where if I questioned her about it, she could and would convincingly lie about it and its intention.”

“I’m not quite sure I follow you Cat.”

“Lillian is cautious, meticulous. She is calculated and cunning, bold at times but not willful or rash in anything she does. She functions with a purposeful intention towards everything she has ever done.  It’s almost compulsory, spontaneity has never been a factor in her life, not even when we were younger.”

“So you’re saying she wasn’t responsible for last night?”

“No, what I’m saying is, she had an agenda, regarding Supergirl. Lillian had a purpose and the outcome was supposed to be quiet and easy to sidestep if any theory she had proved to be true… or false.  Either way, she would have had a result to whatever her experiment and no one else would be the wiser.” Cat folded her arms across her chest, looking down to the floor a moment before resuming her languid pace.

“I’m saying she wasn’t responsible for the madness that erupted from that would be terrorist last night.”

“Terrorist?”

“Well, what would you call it Lane? He’s not a humanitarian. Honestly, ‘ _humans first’_?  Last I was aware Supergirl was the only confirmed alien from another planet.  Now that’s not to say there aren’t others but still, it is extreme to already have a motto and an intention and the backing of people like-”

“Lillian and others in her circle.” Lois finished letting out her own deep sigh. Cat gestured in some kind of agreement before flexing her fingers tighter around her arms.  

“I also know... Lillian wouldn’t have done something like that to me. Not at an event like that.”

“Why because suddenly you’re finding a morality clause within her?”  Cat stopped hard, looking over at Lois pointedly before shaking her head.

“It’s rude and below her self-imposed station.”

“You’re telling me your sister was not responsible for that attack last night because it would be considered impolite?”

Cat let out a small sigh, looking heavenward as if the words she wanted to convey were written on the ceiling.

“She's an elitist, and because we're related any circumstance like that which serves as an embarrassment or like a blight on her name-our family name, is as brilliant as a scarlet letter. While it may not point at her, it will point to my mother. I've already seen it. More than once, when they've brought up CatCo, they ensure my pedigree is right behind it.”

Lois stood then, stepping over to Cat and intercepting her path. “How long?”

“What?”

“How long since you visited your father?”

Cat turned away from Lois only to be pulled right back around.

“How long Cat?”

“Just before I left Metropolis.” Cat let out a bitter laugh of a sound then. “I only have one picture of him and I've seen more of him in the past few hours on the tv than I can even remember in my own mind.”   Cat searched the air between them, her mind supplying memories that in principle should arouse pity, but in fact, colored her voice with wry humor.

“Lillian always wanted our father’s affection. When she didn't get it to her level of satisfaction, she blamed me. All I ever wanted was for my mother to acknowledge me, to love me. When my father seemed to make this unspoken choice concerning his daughters, she blamed me too.”

“Cat…”

Lois didn't know what to say. She and her sisters were so different by comparison. She and Laurel knew their father doted on Lucy. Being the baby and the fact that she followed in his military footsteps. However, they never saw it as this all-encompassing favoritism of their father of one over the others. Unlike Cat’s own family. They all knew the General loved each of them with equal measure.  Where he might dote on one in one arena, he would dote on another in a different one.

Granted her mother had died young, not unlike Cat’s father. It was one of those in common things that had initially broken the ice between them.  Although her mother’s death hadn't created the kind of rift Cat’s fathers' death seemed to within the Grant family. Then again, should the General pass away, his daughters would be granted equal portions of his estate. Not the whole of it like Cat had.  Sometimes Lois was amazed Cat’s family spoke to her at all when one considered it all.

Cat let out a gruff exhale, pulling Lois’ attention back to her.  A single knuckle brushed under her eye as if gathering the emotions that had sparked it before she tossed them aside with an irritant flick.

“Lillian wouldn't disgrace Mother and our family name through me,” Cat stated with absolution.  “Lillian was a part of it, but not that attack. That was Lex. He is what worries me. I think he even worries Lillian because I'm not so sure he has a moral restraint. His father never did.” Cat moved away again as Lois watched her start to pace once more.

“He has to know that I know the extent of his mother's involvement. It's as if he knows I'll talk about it, and bring all this conspiracy to light. Given my position now with CatCo and with my connection to Supergirl… That's a lot of free publicity. The focus will shift and his little corporation and whatever movement he's behind with this _humans first_ will have a national platform that he'll practically choke on to argue against while also rallying others to his causes.”

“So no interview.”

Cat rolled her eyes looking back at the other woman. “Not yet, at least on them. There's already enough of us with targets painted on our backs.”

“Don't count me out. I've had one for nearly fourteen years now I think.”

“I meant on Lex's behalf, Lane.”

“Yes well, after standing beside Lena I may have taken the privilege away from you.”

“Or just put a bigger one on her.”

“Give me a little credit-”

“This isn't a contest Lois. We're talking about someone who had every intention of trying to kill Supergirl. After everything we've all seen her do. There is no telling what someone like that would do to someone else without the luxury of being bulletproof.”

Lois made to say something except it came out as a knock on the door causing both women to turn towards the sound.  

“You expecting anyone else?”

Cat shook her head. “I know the security agents are still around, Marsdin is in this hotel.” She knew no one would be able to even step off the elevator unless they were cleared.  Cat knew she hadn’t cleared anyone unless of course, it was Olivia, but she would have called first. She moved away from Lois, not bothering to look through the viewer as she opened the door.  The corner of her mouth rose as she lifted her features upward before stepping aside and letting her newest guest inside.

“Perfect. Someone who knows exactly how dangerous being a target can be.” Cat shut the door and followed after the taller woman. “Who you might actually listen to Lane.”

“Diana.” Lois’ expression and tone relayed her surprise and confusion as the other woman came closer.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Cat shook her head, waving the other woman off while Lois now looked concerned. “You weren’t answering your phone and I remember you saying something about Ms. Grant-”

“Oh Cat, please.” The shortest of the three crossed the room behind Diana. “Can I get you anything?”

“No, thank you,” Diana stated politely.

“My phone’s on silent, I didn’t think you’d be available after everything from last night and-” 

“I am and again I don’t mean to interrupt, but, there are some things we need to discuss before you leave for Metropolis.”

Cat looked between the two of them before stepping closer. “If you need the space, I can always take Lena and Carter-”

Diana shook her head. “I appreciate the offer, but it’s going to take a lot longer than I think you could find time to be away. Besides, until Secretary Marsdin says otherwise you’d have agents trailing after you.”

Cat let out a small sigh at that.  “Speaking of, I really should call her about that.”

Lois stepped closer to Diana then, whispering something Cat couldn’t hear as Diana shook her head.  She watched as Lois reached for the other woman, wrapping her hand around the woman’s forearm as they carried on an entire conversation between one another with the gesture.

“Let me get my things and say bye to Lena and Carter,” Lois said quietly, apologizing to Cat with a glance to which the other woman merely nodded. Diana released a substantial exhale, her head tipping to the side slightly as she caught sight of a particular cape draped over a chair.

“She’s not here if-”

Diana shook her head, stepping closer to the swath of red, fingertips hovering just over it before she closed them away into her palm and looked at Cat over her shoulder.

“She’s always had a kind of fearlessness…”

“With what?” Cat frowned lightly, moving that much closer until Diana turned around to face her fully.

“Risking herself, her life, for the reasons she has.”

The two women held each other’s gazes for a long moment until a knowing kind of awareness gradually blossomed across Cat’s mind and drained into the rest of her. Just like it had the instant Cat realized Kara was Supergirl. Diana saw it, however subtle it might have been for anyone else; that flicker of comprehension.  Everyone had moments of revelation in life like that. One minute you were in the dark to some invisible truth, and the next it was as if a firework exploded, illuminating a new kind of world even if just for a moment.

Recognizing some kind of extraordinary being amidst the ordinary almost seemed as if it were Cat’s own superpower at this rate.  Cat felt as if her balance were off for a second, lips already parted from disbelief until Lois’ voice stirred her back into some semblance of impassiveness.

“If I have to I can always take another day and head back to Metropolis tomorrow evening Cat.”

Cat swallowed as Diana looked away, offering the barest of smiles towards the both of them.

“Lane… y-you do have a cell phone, it’s not as if you don’t know how to use it.”

“True enough but I know you. “ Lois stepped into the other woman’s space, hugging her briefly. “You’ll pass me off to Karen and if I do manage to get you over the phone I won’t be able to see if you’re telling me the whole truth or just some truncated version of it.”

“That hurts me.”  Cat teased, before moving back, giving a small nod to Diana as she traversed the room back towards the door.

“See, right there, obfuscating the hell out of what is actually going on.”

“Get going Lane before she picks you up or something.”  Diana actually snickered, as Lois nudged the taller woman gently.

“She’s not wrong.” The taller woman admitted.  Where Cat merely grinned with the confirmation, Lois rolled her eyes.

“I suddenly feel very thankful we’re not all going to lunch or something together, not sure I could handle the two of you.”  Lois admonished. Diana set her hand on Lois’ lower back, gently nudging her along as she turned to shut the door behind them, her eyes drifting just above Cat's head.

“Seems I came just in time.” Diana nodded up over the woman's shoulder. “Goodbye, Cat.”

She gave a small wave, her expression confused with Diana's departing gestures until she turned, feeling her heart leap up into her throat.  Kara hovered just beyond the balcony surrounded by the sun of the growing afternoon. She knew anyone in the surrounding buildings could see the hero, not to mention anyone from the ground who happened to look up.  It was an image that was often difficult for anyone else to witness during the later hours of the evening when the two of them typically shared moments like this.

Cat gathered the warmth of the cape from the chair as she made her way to the sliding door, pushing it aside before stepping out onto the balcony itself. Kara stretched her shoulders out, making herself appear even broader than she was while the crest at her center was forced forward.  Cat drew in a slow breath, taking in the sight of the woman with a gradual evaluation from head to toe and back again.  Kara raised an eyebrow at her before tilting her head to the side just enough to convey her unspoken question.

“I believe I have a new appreciation for the sun, especially concerning your suit… Supergirl.”  Kara floated closer, the line of her hips nearly pressing into the iron of the railing as she looked down at the other woman.  

“I’ll have to keep that in mind from now on.” Kara allowed, although her voice held a different kind of reverence to it than Cat could recall the woman having outside the suit.  Save for a time or two, one of which being when Kara had commanded the bullpen into action after the helicopter incident.

“You’re not here to stay... are you?”

Kara shook her head, gloved fingers tracing across the side of Cat’s face, drifting inward towards her mouth before falling away and palm up. “Tomorrow. I promise, but right now.” She nodded towards the city behind her. “Things are a bit restless.”

Cat smirked gently, turning over the cape but not releasing it until Kara forcibly drug it out of her grasp.

“Please…" Her words were like a prayer, with memories of last night still fresh on her mind. "Be careful.”

Kara drifted closer, the warmth of her skin through the mask easily felt on Cat's own where she pressed a kiss just below the other woman's ear against her neck.

“Always.” In the next second, she was gone.


	46. Conversations and Observations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has their own methods of dealing with the aftermath of the attack on Supergirl while the world takes a broader look at the hero herself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SUPER thanks to ChupeyDupey for the beta. and to those catching up, starting over, following along and thoroughly enjoying this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

Kara pulled in a deep breath as wakefulness slammed into her with the shrill sound of the phone on the nightstand beside her.  Every cell in her body felt sore, however fleeting, as she turned and stretched to reach the thing. She eyed the screen, seeing Cat’s name before nearly dropping the thing in order to answer it.

“Tell me you’re outside my door…” Kara’s voice was rough and laden with sleep even to her own ears but the sound Cat made as a result of it woke up a few selective portions of her body instantly.

“Must you sound so worthy of being fucked at five in the morning?” Cat breathed into the phone a second after, intertwined with regret and resignation.

Kara laughed quietly, falling back against the pillows and pulling her comforter up higher against her chest as she stared up at the ceiling before closing her eyes.  She turned her hearing to the sounds coming through the phone using them to pinpoint Cat’s position within National City. A slow smile pulled at her features as she realized the woman was still at the Seraphim.

“Do you want-”

“You? Yes.” Cat interrupted.  “Do I want you to come here now, yes…”

Kara let out her own resigned sigh, hearing the lilt of disappointment in Cat’s voice.

“But?”

“I need to take care of a lot of things from the other night. Lena and Carter are going to stay at the hotel while I try to convince Secretary Marsdin that the security envoy isn’t needed any longer.”

“They’re just being cautious.”  Kara tried, dragging her comforter with her and twisting herself around in order to surround her pillow while also using it to hold her phone to her ear.

“And I told you, I only trust you to keep us safe.”  Cat reiterated. “I doubt those responsible are even in town any longer, and the authorities have that-”

“I know,” Kara said with an edge Cat instantly wanted to apologize for.

“I… know we need to talk, about a lot of things.”

“So many things.” Kara agreed with a flicker of amusement as her arms tightened around her pillow.  She stared out her window, searching over the fading stars and the first colors of the morning’s twilight along the horizon.

“I don’t want those agents in our home, it’s bad enough one’s going to be at CatCo, along with a multitude of others while I deal with legal and countless others all damn day.”

“Cat?”

“What?”

“Stop pacing, put the towel you’re drying your hair with down and breathe for a minute.”

“You can hear what I’m doing over the phone?” Cat tossed the towel aside, taking a seat in front of the built-in vanity. “What am I even saying, of course you can, I shouldn’t be surprised if you could hear-”

“I can hear your heartbeat, but not through the phone,” Kara admitted, listening as Cat struggled to find words until she finally took in a deep breath.

“Sorry, I just-”

“Don't… Kara. Don't ever apologize for the things that you are capable of.” Cat swallowed hard enough for Kara to hear through the phone along with the accompanying waver of her exhale. “I… just. I don't even know what or how…”

Kara searched the skies as if searching Cat’s features, letting the silence continue before quietly whispering, “...what?”

“I don't even know where to even begin to try and express… to make you feel or understand the same way you make me feel sometimes. I mean I was never good at it with a hum..with other people-”

“Cat?” Kara couldn’t help the flutter of her heart with the realization that she had reduced the other woman to a ramble. When she stayed silent Kara continued. “Close your eyes…” Kara sat back slowly. “And think of a moment when you could feel my heart beating.”

Kara closed her own eyes, pulling up each and every time Cat had pressed a hand to her chest, in and out of her suit with perfect clarity within her mind’s eye.  She shifted her focus just enough to the sound of Cat's own heart thumping away and waited.

A minute passed, maybe less before the whisper of sensation caressed her skin, followed by the increase of Cat's own heart rate. Kara felt the barest pressure of phantom fingertips fitting into the muscle of her chest before she swore breathlessly against her Gods.  She felt the sudden kick start of Cat's heart into a faster rhythm only to have the moment shatter as the other woman’s phone hit the floor.

Kara fell backward on the bed with a small bounce while Cat leveled her own choice phrases at the fallen object and herself.

“You… you're making it increasingly difficult to find a reason not to go into the office myself today Kara.” Cat huffed in what Kara recognized as an attempt to hide the tremble in her voice. “I never, not even..not after the accident or-”

“You’re going,” Kara stated while studying her ceiling. “Today is only going to be the start of a very long week for both of us I’m sure.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Kara let out a slow exhale, working the muscles in her jaw for a moment.  “A lot and not because I don’t want to.” She said honestly enough before turning to look out the window once more. “We both need to take care of things first though don’t we?”

Cat couldn’t argue with that and as she looked up at herself in the mirror she drew in a settling breath as if to prepare herself for the day. “Plenty actually.”  

The pair lingered in a knowing silence. They both knew they needed to talk about everything. Neither of them could accomplish any kind of discussion concerning one another while the rest of the world was clamoring for their attention.

“Thank you for the day, maybe I’ll drop by sometime.”

Cat let out a breath of a laugh at that. “Listen, do… whatever you need to do, just be careful please?”

“I will be. Don’t give those agents too difficult a time, they’re just doing their jobs.”

“Mmmhhmm.”

“Call me, if you need anything.”

“Same goes for you Kara.  I mean that, anything for you or Alexandra or-”

“I know. Get dressed, otherwise, you’re going to be late…” Kara mused while Cat let out another small laugh before telling her goodbye and hanging up the phone.

Kara remained where she was for a long moment, searching through the unending series of thoughts crossing her mind before she settled on one in particular. With one hand she sent out a series of texts, first to her mother about Alex and another to Winn. Thankful her father had provided the younger man with a cell phone while the D.E.O. had seen fit to provide him with one of their residential rooms.

Thirty minutes and a shower later Kara was getting dressed before the first reply came in. With a burst of superspeed, she was dry and ready, grabbing Alex’s keys and a small duffle full of her sister's clothes.

 

“You have to understand this is just a prototype, I'm not even sure it'll work completely.”

“It's better than nothing at all. He's my cousin if anyone finds him-”

“We're not even sure they know who you are Kara,” Winn explained, handing her the small device he and Astra had been working on with the Danvers’ input.  “What if it doesn't work at all and he puts himself in danger or something thinking it does.”

Kara toyed with the small harness, running a thumb over the small symbol of her house that had been etched into the device’s main component. “He won't. I trust you, and Astra and even my parents on this. Even if it just limits the effects of that stuff it's worth it. Even if you don't trust yourself yet. You should. You're amazing Winn.”

Winn sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair. “If I was Astra would be awake by now.”

Kara looked over at him then, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“I've modified the sun lamps that the team here built. She's been inundated with sunlight but-”

“It's not your fault Winn.” She stepped closer, setting the k-shield down before placing her hands on his shoulders. “I know she's a part of you, however small, that makes you family and I know right now you may not be able to feel her like before, but she's still here. We've done all we can. If anything it's up to her to come back to us. Given her and my mother's apparent penchant for self-sacrifice based on guilt and obligation… she's fighting for a lot more than her life right now.”  Winn nodded with a heavy swallow before stepping into her and hugging Kara.

“Keep an eye on Alex for me, she can't stay in there forever, despite how much she's going to try.”

“I will.” The two stepped back from one another as Kara grabbed the shield and made her way out of the lab.

 

**\-------**

 

Jonathan set aside the screwdriver he had been using in favor of a socket wrench.  He tugged the edge of his shirt sleeve up, using it to wipe his brow before fitting the wrench into place and ratcheting the bolt tighter. He felt the slight shift of the air around him, not taking his eyes off his task and he listened to the soft crunch of sand and gravel beneath someone’s feet.

Based on their weight displacement he knew they were close to his own build, just under. Of course, he hadn’t heard any other sounds denoting said individuals arrival and with that deduced it could only be one of two people.

“Clark’s not here.” He said gruffly, using both hands to tighten the bolt into place with a bit of a grunt.

“I know,” Kara said honestly before stepping onto the tool blanket and sitting down cross-legged. “I wanted to talk to you and Aunt Martha first.”

“Seems a little late doesn’t it?” He rolled out from under the tractor, looking at her for a long moment.

Kara studied the man covered in grease, grit, and sweat, eyes clear as the Smallville sky they were both under. She could feel the weight of his words like the gravity of her own planet but maintained his gaze without falter. They spoke volumes in their silence. Jonathan had always been a quiet man. It’s what had made him a good soldier back in the day and an even more intimidating officer later on.

His eyes narrowed slightly before he pushed himself back beneath the tractor. “Hand me the drive chain.”  

Kara leaned over, grabbing the heavy chain and passing it to him.

“Grab that can beside your leg and get under here, unless you've forgotten how all this works.”

Kara tied her hair up, ignoring the grease she left in it before following his instructions, moving to the side of the machine and shouldering her way beneath the thing. She watched as the man threaded the chain before he asked her to follow it up and work it along as he greased the links.  She eased it along, waiting for the chain to slip into place before turning the rotor enough to ensure it moved properly.

She slid out, using the tractor to pull herself up while her Uncle rolled out from under it, grabbing the guard and fitting it back into place with a few well placed knocks of his fist.  He used his shirt again to wipe his brow before wiping his hands on a rag to clear them of as much grease as possible.

“Martha may not be as accommodating, fair warning.”

“Because you are?”

“Not exactly, but I understand it better than she does.” He offered her the rag then. “I've got the medals to prove it.”

“I'm not here to recruit him or either of you for anything. I would never-”

“I know Kara. I know. So does Martha deep down. However, your actions speak louder than any words we might have to offer him. You're his blood, you're the only example of where he's really from. He sees himself in you.”

“He sees himself in you, Jonathan. My world, my family, even his family are nothing but fairytales. Every memory, his whole existence, every split second of his life is entangled with you and Martha.”

Jonathan watched her hesitate to continue, tipping his head to the side slightly before leaning his head back.

“Spit it out, Kara.”

“Clark... he's not like me. He's more human than I could ever be.” Kara let out a forceful exhale, offering him back the towel.  “He wasn't engineered and born from a machine like I was. He may not even have the same abilities-”

“Is that supposed to be a comfort? He's still not from here Kara. I knew that then and sometimes I've allowed myself to forget that until now. That's my fault, not yours. I made a choice with him, and you.” He stepped closer to her then, watching her straighten opposite him with a hidden pride.  

“It was selfish and human but I made it because I knew, better than your parents and my wife, what certain people as a whole, especially in our government would do to you both.” Jonathan scratched at his beard, wiping at his brow a second after. “I always knew his past would catch up with him, I just expected it to be farther than right now. When he was ready when he could really understand-”

“Like you when you enlisted?”

“I enlisted because there was a war-”

“And I'm trying to make sure there isn't another one! Where he never has to choose between what he is and who he is.” Kara stepped closer, eyes never diverting from her Uncle's own. “I'm his past, you and Martha, you're his future.”

“If you came here-”

“I came here because my first priority at eleven years old was to protect him. By extension that includes you. Don't ask me what I've done just please trust that I have and will continue to do that.” She unclipped the band at her waist, folding it over before handing it to him. “I hope he never needs this, but if you've seen anything in the news lately I'd rather be safe than sorry I guess.”

He turned it over in his hands, eying the symbol across the front before looking up at her expectantly.

“It's a dampener, against the radiation of our planet. Turns out we're not as bulletproof as we thought.”

“Is someone coming after him?”

Kara shook her head, setting a hand on her Uncle's. “No. No. I swear.”

“Are they coming after you?” When she hesitated his expression shifted. His eyes fell on the device between them before he uncharacteristically pulled her forward and hugged her. Kara froze for a moment, dealing with Jonathan sometimes reminded her of Astra. Once a soldier always a soldier...until. She hugged him back after another second, easily hearing the screen door clatter shut just beyond them.  

Kara wanted to say she was sorry, even if deep down she wasn't. Not for what she had done or could have exposed them all to, but for the very real possibility that struck her like lightning. She wanted to apologize in case she failed, somewhere, somehow along the way knowing her cousin would undoubtedly chase after her ghost as a result of it.

Martha came to a stop near the two, exchanging a thoughtful look with her husband before nodding to whatever had remained unspoken between them.

“The two of you are wasting daylight. Things around here aren't going to tend to themselves.”  Kara let out a broken kind of laugh stepping back enough to look at her Aunt who sized her up for a long moment.

“Help your Uncle finish up, then you both can get cleaned up and help me with supper.” Martha stepped closer before poking at Kara’s side before letting out a noise of understanding. “City food’s wearing you thin.”

 

**\-------**

 

Alex stretched for the umpteenth time, standing inside one of the many break rooms afforded to the DEO facility. Her hands were on autopilot, stirring a mug of coffee while her food cooked in the microwave. At the demand of her parents, she had finally taken a shower, and thanks to Kara had changed out of the standard issue DEO casual uniform Hank had provided her after Astra had been moved.

The only reason she wasn't with her now was that her mother was overseeing the relocation of the comatose woman into one of the residential rooms. The room had to be temporarily outfitted for the multitude of machines and equipment attached to the Kryptonian.  The beep of the microwave pulled her from the threatening downward spiral of her thoughts concerning the other woman. With an almost mechanical like motion, she retrieved her food, tossing the plastic barrier in the trash before grabbing a fork from a drawer and setting her back against the counter edge as she dug in.

“When was the last time you had any real food there Danvers?” Vasquez’s voice should have startled her, but Alex just chewed her bite to the side of her mouth with little fanfare.

“Night before last.” She answered honestly, recalling the dinner at the Seraphim before shoving the memory aside.

“That the last time you ate too?” Alex cut her eyes up to the agent with that one although Vasquez only took it as an invitation to edge up against the counter beside her.  Alex shoveled another bite into her mouth to keep from saying something rude as Vasquez crossed her arms over her chest.

“Does she know?”

“Muht?”

“Sentinel.” Alex let out a kind of muffled, amused noise before Vasquez continued. “She's done a lot around here. We've all been aware of her and how she is. It's kind of a right of passage if someone can hold her interest beyond a look or a  wordless response. We all thought Winn was the only one that could get her to be anything other than intimidating. Til a couple of us saw her with you in the garage a bit ago.”

Alex slowed her chewing, pausing enough to wash it all down with a hearty swallow of coffee and a bit of a wince before she turned her head to look at Vasquez more directly.

“I scrubbed it.” Vasquez gave the same scrutinized look right back to the other woman with an edge of something more personal that resulted in Alex turning back to her food.

“You have to understand that a few of us, maybe more than a few, but enough of us consider her to be kind of important.”

“What's your point?” Alex said around another bite of food.

“My point... is that she clearly has some kind of something for you. Now before, had she asked based on what I saw I would have advised her to focus somewhere else. That changed the second you rolled in here with her the other night.”  Vasquez shifted, setting her hands on either side of herself around the counter.

“If you were just doing your job I can understand that. I don’t think you were. You wouldn’t still be here if that were the case, Danvers. You don’t know me and I won’t pretend to know you. However, I know what it's like being in her position. Questioning everything, especially for someone who has an internal obligation to duty and honor.  It makes us do stupid things, like never admit our feelings and then turn around and sacrifice ourselves because everyone would just be better for it.” Vasquez pushed off the counter as Alex tracked her movements.

“If you do have feelings, whatever they are, tell her. If you're confused or scared or don't even know, but there's something you feel for her, tell her. Even if it doesn't work out, even if it fails miserably, even if she doesn’t feel the same. Tell her.  Always wondering, always questioning, always regretting is not anywhere you want to be.” Vasquez studied Alex for a minute longer before giving a small nod and stepping away and back into the hall, presumably back to her post.

 

**\-------**

 

Cat eased down into her chair before turning her back to the whole of the bullpen through the doors, letting out a heavy sigh.  The meetings she had been involved in all morning and well into the afternoon had drained any good nature she had started out with earlier.  She was thankful the number of personal complaints involving the Seraphim and her event over the weekend were minimal at best. Still costly, but not as bad as they could have been.  In a way, it reflected the general ramblings of the everyday individual concerning Supergirl and the public opinion surrounding her.

With a heavy sigh, she leaned back into the cushion of her chair, as she scanned the screens lining her wall.  Every network was running their own stories, in favor, against and across the middle concerning Supergirl and this introduction of a human’s first angle. Which of course was only fueled further by her magazine detailing the depths of Earth’s first open and out being from another planet.  Coupled and multiplied by all her efforts from the day before concerning every ounce of news and op-ed she could gather to run concurrently with the first edition’s launch. Her eyes moved over each screen, racing across closed captions and lower third opinion snippets.

 

_“No one has ever looked at the implications of an alien living amongst us, acting or intervening in our world issues. We’ve speculated, we’ve built a whole subculture around it with television and film. It’s an existential human factor to seek something beyond the stars, but not actually be faced with the reality of it.  Especially when, contrary to most any fictional account, this Supergirl is the quintessential ideal-”_

_“Of what it means to defend this country.  Groups like this supposed terrorist, as you call him, may be a part of have existed before. Just not with the idea of protecting the entire planet against alien invasion.  It’s been domesticated organizations, and not just in our own country, but others as well since the beginning of history when one country wanted what another had on the other side.  This is no different. I for one support this individual and I’m sure others do that are either already in place or will be soon enough. We cannot let this fictional idea of an all-powerful being truly harboring a benevolent attitude-”_

_“Carry on without some kind of real consideration to the repercussions here.  We’ve gone round and round about this woman ever since that bomb went off in National City. The conversation continued when that helicopter incident occurred shortly thereafter. Her efforts have hardly diminished between then and now.  We have to ask ourselves if we should expect someone like this Supergirl to intervene unilaterally. Or considering this probable “Humans First” group’s concerns, should this great nation and its government, any government, control her involvement?  If we can come to understand her fundamental ideas, we have to ask-”_

_“Does there need to be a Supergirl? From what we’ve read of this interview she did with Cat Grant of CatCo Worldwide Media, she’s just an alien refugee sent here by her parents for some kind of better life. This whole question of her divinity or bête noire shouldn’t even be considered.  She is just a refugee. I can’t think of a more inspiring story than being a child of immigrant’s to this country myself. She is something to aspire to whether one has her abilities or not. One thing to point out of course is-”_

_“What is going to happen if there’s something she doesn’t agree with?  We all saw footage concerning that unidentified man who tried to attack her.  I have no issue with her defending herself, but she should have understood the consequences and responsibilities when she put on that suit and started flying around trying to be this otherworldly figure.  I think this one man's actions are extreme, but the preparedness behind said actions should not go unnoticed. We as a nuclear country have done the same in response to our enemies and our allies. Preparation with an underlying agreement of mutually assured destruction as a means of control.  It’s like a ballast, but I’m not saying-”_

_“She can’t fix everything. No matter what she is or how powerful, we as human beings without such extraordinary abilities cannot lay that at her feet anymore than we can lay it at the feet of our world leaders.  Ultimately she is no different from those who we put in positions to lead our world. She's an individual trying to do the right thing by all accounts and has yet to ask for a single accolade or expression of gratitude in return.  She receives nothing for being this hero and just like any other being on this planet, she is lead by her moral compass and compassion for the human race. Which I find extraordinary given how poorly this one individual and I’m certain others across the planet are reacting. We have to remember-”_

_“People are flawed, even this Supergirl. The prime example being that to her, humanity is worth saving, worth preserving when a majority of this planet would disagree and be more inclined to send us all into a fiery ball of our own destructive natures and start over.  Which clearly is what that man was striving towards by attacking her. Humans first? What is that? The betterment of humanity? I don’t understand his mission statement or his actions. Nor do I find true merit to this conspiracy theory from a so-called unnamed source, leaked in today’s Daily Planet, that this man may be part of some defunct, rogue, wildcard organization beholden only to themselves. However wild that theory, men like that and others that rally behind him, if you ask me, they’re the threat, not Supergirl.”_

_“Are we alone in the universe? No, not by far according to that human's first statement and the report of a larger organization How extraordinary, an answer she is to that question mankind has asked itself for generations. I will be the first one to state that I have always said it would be to humanity’s great detriment to allow our hubris to govern an unsubstantiated truth at being the only intelligent life in the universe. In my opinion, while this man and any others who would agree with him are certainly not alone in their concerns, their methods only speak towards the worst parts of ourselves.  They seek to destroy, to govern through fear and ultimately close ourselves off from the possibility that alien life is not the work of fictitious scenarios where we all perish in one way or another. That it is instead an answer, not to are we alone, but to the countless millennia of hopes and prayers we as human beings have sent out into the unknown to aid us.”_

 

Cat wrapped a hand around the lower half of her face, bracing her arm on its twin around her midsection as she continued to watch and read. She let out a slow breath through her nose scanning over the monitors before turning her chair just enough to reach her phone.

“Katie, I need you to check in with my niece and son at the Seraphim, then I need you to get a hold of Secretary Marsdin and tell her to clear her dinner schedule for this evening no excuses.  Find out if Lois Lane is still in my city if she’s not, get me Perry White from the Planet on the phone… and get me a salad with a side hamburger, rare.”

There was a knock on the glass of her office door, pulling her attention to one James Olsen with a series of items in his hands.  She rose a brow in curiosity before waving him in.

“Something I need to be aware of Olsen?”

“I’ve got layouts for a few of the articles for next months issue from editorial, theme options from creative if we’re still on for Secretary Marsdin, along with last month’s P&L from accounting.”  He stepped forward, placing each item on her desk neatly. “First twenty-four hour’s sales reports and…” He set a red folder on top, fingertips lingering as she looked up from it to him. “These are for you, personally.  They’re a gift seeing as it’s my last week and all.”

Cat chanced another look at the folder before nodding towards a nearby chair for him to bring closer. “You’re not even going to consider my offer?”

James hesitated as he began to sit, giving her a winning smile as he tucked the chair closer and settled into the cushions.  

“It’s, an incredible offer Ms. Grant.”

“Cat.”

James looked surprised at that, his nervousness showing as he shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.

“Assistant Photo Art Director...an office, a staff, creative control.” He wasn’t going to lie a how good it all seemed, and yet.  

“To a point, at least for now.” She offered, dragging her own copy of CatCo magazine complete with his photo on the cover, holding it up for him. “This, right here… it’s going to make you.”

“A magazine-”

“Not the magazine James, the photo. Moreover, the woman in the photo.  You’re the first person to get a photo of her. I’m sure you can see behind me how influential she is just in conversation but this… this is award-winning. You wait.”

James laughed gently with a small shake of his head. “I was in the right place at the right time, that’s all.  You framed the shot, you knew she was here and told me-”

“You should have more confidence in yourself, James.  You have a natural affinity for this. A true talent, one that I’m confident in enough to offer you the chance to oversee a vast majority of the visually creative direction of this company.  With my final input of course.”

“I.. it’s not that I’m not grateful, or that I’m not considering it. Unless the offer is gone once I return to Metropolis.”   Cat shook her head at him causing him to sigh and his shoulders to appear weighted. “My whole life is there. I understand this is a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity, it's the culmination of following my passions and not giving up.”

“But…?”

“I'm twenty-four, I… don't feel as if I've even lived enough to warrant that position yet. I know what I love and sometimes I know what I am capable of, but this, I would hate to be here a year from now with you asking what the hell happened.”

Cat hmmd with a ghost of a smile, setting the magazine down and sitting back in her chair. “Do you know where I was at twenty-four?”

He shook his head, studying her carefully as she looked right back at him before turning her eyes just past him to her balcony.

“I was working for the planet, just like you, but unlike you, I was losing custody of my son, poorly I might add and being disowned by my family in the process. I always wanted more than just to be a reporter and ironically in the midst of all that, opportunity found me.”   She looked back at him then. “I bought the Tribune, after having found out, by accident, that I already owned a fair portion of other media outlets that once belonged to my father.

Cat stood then, moving away from her desk to the bar against the wall, dragging two glasses forward and filling them up accordingly.

“I knew nothing about running a company much less more than one and I could have very easily given it all up because I lacked that knowledge and a multitude of other reasons. Now I'm not saying that our situations are the same, not by any means.” She walked back over, offering him a glass before sitting on the edge of her desk near him. “What I am saying is that I don't believe in failure, not if you try, not even if you screw it up spectacularly so long as you pick yourself up and keep going.”

James took a hearty sip of his drink, coughing in the depths of his chest as she took a well-practiced sip with little effect before raising her glass to him.

“I can spot the extraordinary pretending to be a nobody in my midst. You, James, are one of those people. I understand you need to think about everything in front of you. While I may not like it, I will also support any choice you make on the matter.”

 

**\-------**

 

“You said you were going to wait before printing anything Lois.” Diana's voice was as stern as it was worrisome through the phone.

“That was before.”

“Don't. Don't do this out of spite or some sudden vein of righteousness Lois. Otherwise, I wouldn't have-”

“Have what? Told me what you are? Let me leave? Which is it?”

“You told me you would understand, that we would get through anything even if-”

“That was about your job Diana. Which come to find out isn't even your job. That-that I at least understand. If I learned nothing from the General at least I understood that working for the government encompassed a multitude of possibilities regardless of your "official” job title.”

“Lois please try to understand. I couldn't tell you-”

“But you could tell a room full of strangers before me?”

“I couldn’t tell you because I wasn’t that person any longer.  I haven’t been for a long time.” Diana knew the tone she was using, knew she was playing into Lois’ frustrations by challenging her with it. “I gave that part of myself up Lois. I became so discontent with the world that I abandoned it. I couldn't reconcile the sacrifices made for a people that continued to seek to destroy each other to the point of requiring someone like me to save them from themselves over and over again for what felt like some kind of mistake.”

“What? Until Supergirl came around? Showed you a different perspective?”

“It was when I met you. Supergirl just furthered that point.”

Lois was silent after that and all Diana could hear was the other woman breathing through the phone.

“I let go of everything. Not all at once… Some of it certainly was like the coming of a storm while other things, they were as gradual as an ocean current.” Diana started and when Lois didn't interject she continued. “I lost so much, including myself and somewhere along the way that became all I understood. Even when I found a moment of clarity and would almost seem to rouse myself out of this complacency, it became normal to just brush past it and continue on.”

Diana took a deep breath, searching through her memories with a painful clarity. “I’m not even sure when I convinced myself of it.  I just know that the moment I began to question the basic assumptions of what I decided were true about this world I found that a great wealth of it no longer seemed accurate. Somewhere I reconciled myself to the truth that I must have changed along with the world and lost a very basic fundamental of what set me apart.”

“What?” Lois' voice was quiet, almost fearful of the answer waiting for her.

“Hope.” Diana let out a wry breath of a laugh. “I still haven’t really untangled it all, but it’s as if I cast myself away into the depths of the human condition and then cut the line that could bring me back from it. Supergirl might have thrown the line, but you're the anchor Lois.”

Silence.  

That’s all Diana heard and just to be sure she drew the phone away from her ear to make sure the call was still connected.  She thought for a moment that the signal had ghosted out or maybe Lois had hit the mute button.

“When are you coming back to Metropolis?”

Diana let out a silent exhale of relief, setting her head in her hand as she leaned forward onto the brace of her knees.   “This weekend, after I finish up here.”

“Ok.” Lois was quiet, obviously focused more on whatever narrative was running through her mind versus the conversation they were engaged within over the phone.  “Meet me for dinner, the usual place.”

Diana swallowed hard, her hand rubbing across her face as she looked up and out the window over National City’s darkening skyline. “Ok.”

“Ok,” Lois repeated.

Diana drew a breath to say something only to have Lois interrupt her with the whispered question of her name through the phone. “Yes, Lois?”

“I… I still love you.  I just…-”

“I love you too.”

 

**\-------**

 

Jeremiah was still on his back on the floor, ensuring that the power output from the modifications Winn had applied to the sun lamps weren’t going to overload a circuit.  The residential sections of the D.E.O. were not exactly intended for what they were attempting but Eliza had a theory concerning Astra’s stagnant recovery and he was more than willing to help.

“Are you rewiring the entire floor?” Eliza’s voice was easy to recognize as she stepped beside him and nudged his side with the toe of her shoe.

“These machines only have so much on reserve and if there’s a surge, that won’t matter.” He answered before sliding out from under the edge of the bed enough to turn around.  Each cord was already labeled with a corresponding power supply unit to augment some of the circuit load.

“She’s got another hour in reserve, there are backup units in the hall just in case.  If this doesn’t work we’re going to have to move her back down. The only other place with enough light is near the main entrance.  I’m not subjecting her to that.”

“Nor should you, as much as I might want to see you raise hell about it.”

Eliza made a noise at him which only made Jeremiah chuckle that much more as he started the sequence he had devised in his head for all of this.  

“To think you wondered where Alex got it all from.” He teased as she moved away from him.

“I was hoping she would have a little more of your temperament.”  Eliza scanned over Astra’s vitals, double checking each lead to ensure a proper read out before adjusting her oxygen level.

“She does, just in small doses.” Jeremiah stood, moving around the medical bed and his wife before kneeling down in order to plug in the remaining machines. “How else would you explain the way she looks at Astra half the time.”

Eliza let out a small sigh at that, looking at the prone woman who still showed no sign of waking. She turned enough to grab the blanket at the foot end of the bed, opening it up and laying it on the sheets already tucked around her.  

“How long have you known?”

"The second I saw them in Kara’s apartment.” He answered honestly, pushing to a stand before coming to stand behind his wife, easing his arms around her waist as a means of comfort.

“You didn’t say anything.”

Jeremiah shook his head enough to be felt by the woman in his arms. “Neither did you when you figured it out.  You always said it was going to take someone extraordinary where Alex was concerned.”

Eliza let out a small breath of a laugh, resting her hands along where his intersected around her waist.  “Extraordinary, not otherworldly.. but I would think any parent would wish that.”

“Would be nice wouldn’t it.” Jeremiah let out a soft sigh, setting his chin on her shoulder.

“You’re not… concerned?”

Jeremiah laughed gently. “Have you been paying attention to our lives? I mean you started all this-”

Eliza turned in his arms in order to look at him properly. “Excuse you? I started all this?”

Jeremiah nodded slowly. “You and that outlaw phase of yours. You don’t think my parents weren’t concerned when I told them I was in love with you?”

“That was all a misunderstanding and you know it.”

“Still happened.  That look I saw on Alex’s face, I knew it because she got it from me.  It was the same look I had when I first saw you.”

Eliza shook her head at him.

“Ignore it all you want, but you started this. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. The consequences of both our actions because of it are clear and present.  We have two incredible daughters who want to save the world, each in their own ways. Which is a direct reflection of both of us and our own course of actions from then to now.”

Eliza touched the side of his face, searching his eyes for a long moment. “I almost lost my brother because of our course of actions. What if we’re not so lucky this time?”

Jeremiah leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Astra is going to wake up.”

“What if she decides it’s too much to allow Alex to be a part of?  This isn’t the same as you and I. This isn’t a misunderstanding that got out of hand. Astra is a soldier, she is always going to do things like this. She is always going to protect the values she feels obligated to uphold even with her own life.”

“Just like Alex is always going to try and save every life as if it were her own…”  He drew in a deep breath then, searching her features. “A warrior and a healer, doesn’t seem so out there. No better than a Queen and a Knight.”

Eliza made an exasperated sound, pushing at him as she began to switch each machine from its backup system to the augmented power relay Jeremiah had set up. “You should have stuck with being a lit major.”

“Then I wouldn't have gotten to see your brilliant mind at work as much.”

“Maybe I don't want Alex to give up all the things she's done. She's already jeopardizing  her career by staying here instead of-”

“I chose to do that. I didn't give up anything. Alex is making her own choices now, but I should remind you how much she has surprised both of us with her choices on any given thing that really meant something to her.” He leaned in conspiratorially once more. “If I recall, I was better at science anyway -and- I still minored in literary studies thank you.”

“Perhaps, but I wasn't an alien from another planet with superhuman abilities and a penchant for self-sacrifice.”

“Might as well have been.”

“Stop flirting and help me with this” Eliza chastised as she waited for each machine to confirm the power switch over before moving on to the next. “The sunlamps should be set to a timer so that she has full sun exposure supplemented with the artificial sun we've set up.”

 

**\-------**

 

Olivia stood in her hotel room nursing another drink, mulling over her dinner with Cat.  Which honestly had been more discussion, under the guise of an interview owed, that had eventually dissolved into a battle of wills between the two women.  Cat had always been formidable. Olivia had just forgotten how much so over time apparently. Although she did make a mental note that should she ever run for President that the woman be given a position on her staff.

As a result, she had revealed the basis of the D.E.O and their would be announcement by week's end.  A dangerous chance considering who she had been talking to, but Cat had sworn she’d be accommodating.  A rarity Olivia knew she wouldn’t have been afforded prior to any of this. Of course, she had to remove the security detail she had ordered for Cat as a kind of quid pro quo. In the long run, it was worth it.  

With another sip of her drink, she headed towards the modest bedroom of her suite, setting her drink on the nightstand as she sat down and allowed herself to relax. The manipulative scales across her skin rippled to life as she settled into her natural state.  She let out a heavy sigh in an attempt to rid herself of the gravity surrounding her with little success. The hum of one of her many phones pulled her attention as she immediately shifted back into her human form, brow furrowing when the screen failed to reveal its origin.

She contemplated not answering it on the off chance it was a feeler call, but something in the back of her mind told her to answer it.  Olivia hit the accept button, setting the phone to her ear.

“This is-”

“Olivia.”

The woman straightened, recognizing the voice easily. “How did you get-”

“I found it tucked into my credentials.”  

“That was-”

“A while ago. I realize.”

Olivia cleared her throat softly, listening carefully to anything that might come through the phone. “Why call now?”

“I don’t want to add to my ever-growing list of regrets.”

Olivia searched the air in front of herself, confusion lining her features as she listened and waited.

“I miss you more than I thought I would.  I didn’t expect that even after the way I went about getting reassigned. I just wanted you to know that.”  

“Are you…” Olivia hesitated, not sure if she wanted the answer to the question brewing in her chest but continued on. “Going to seek reassignment again or are you going into the private sector?”

“I'm staying with the D.E.O. What happened with Project Cadmus… my involvement with it, they can't be allowed to continue, even on their own. This organization you helped start is a big factor in making that happen. Just as much as you are.”

“Are you saying, you're staying for me?” Olivia switched the phone to her other ear, using her free hand to wrangle her glass and drain its contents.

“Yes. In part. Nearly dying can make one reexamine a lot of things.”

“It does.” Olivia let out a slow breath, looking skyward at the truth of that statement. It had been the reason she had left her number in the first place. Nearly losing someone you care about, but never wanted to admit it out of fear, does that to a person.

“I know you would have eventually been briefed on the remaining roster, but I wanted to tell you first hand. So you wouldn’t have to wonder one way or another.”

“I... appreciate that.” Olivia’s voice was quiet, her emotions running in every direction imaginable.

“Goodnight Secretary.”

Olivia closed her eyes at her title, head falling as it resonated within her. “Goodnight-” The sound of the call ending halted the rest of her response, which she transmuted into a dark sigh.


	47. When Days Feel Like Years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When minutes feel like hours and days seem like years Kara and Cat find that the only solace is in the arms of each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super thanks to Chupey for the betas. Seriously there is not enough credit for betas just sayin'. 
> 
> Intense chapter this and not one to be read at work or something similar. 47 chapters and these two finally get more than just a fleeting moment with one another...
> 
> I did warn that this was a slow burn, didn't I?

The week had gone by almost painfully slow. Each day seeming to blend into the next and by each day's end there was hardly any time for much else but sleep. Cat had been in meeting after meeting, skipping lunches and walking in the door close to the midnight hour. After the second night, Kara had decided once Carter was asleep after about an hour she would leave him in the capable hands of Lena.

This, of course, left her free enough to handle anything required of her involving Supergirl. Kara also spent time convincing her sister that she would watch over Astra so that Alex might manage her own obligations involving school and shifts at the hospital. Alex only agreed when Kara swore that if the other woman woke up she would personally retrieve Alex from wherever she was and fly her to the D.E.O.

Even still, after each shift or class, Alex was parked in the room with the Kryptonian. She would go over her day meticulously to pass time, sleep for a few restless hours and start again. When Kara couldn't be present, Winn was under the same instruction of alerting Kara should Astra's status change in any capacity.

Which was where he was now while Alex was at Pharros and Kara was navigating the city in one of her many patrolling patterns. She rounded a larger set of buildings before slowly descending until she was about four stories above the ground. She spotted the townhome easily and was half certain she could find it with her eyes closed.

All the floors were dark save for the larger expanse of one room on the uppermost floor. Cat’s curtains were drawn back and despite the cooler night air her balcony doors were open wide. Kara couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her lips as she caught sight of the other woman. It was a rare moment that Cat appeared so casual and relaxed compared to her usual disposition at work.

As it was, she was roaming around her bedroom, legs bare, oversized shirt hanging from her shoulder as she studied the papers in her hand. Cat held a pen in her teeth and her hair was pulled up in a lackluster fashion, numerous strands spilling from its precarious hold as she moved. Kara took note of her glasses and couldn’t help but marvel at how human they made Cat appear. Not that she wasn’t, but her current state of appearance was certainly not befitting her royal title as National City’s media queen. Her bed was covered in all manner of things, all originating from CatCo and clearly revealing that Cat had no intention of finding sleep anytime soon.

Kara floated down effortlessly, landing on the terrace before walking closer to the open doorway. The flutter of her cape pulled Cat’s attention enough to prompt her to stop pacing. She turned to face the approaching woman, tipping her head to the side as she regarded her for a lingering moment before tossing the paperwork in her hand unceremoniously onto the bed with the rest of her work.

Kara halted at the border of the door, pressing her shoulder into the frame before crossing her arms under the sigil at her chest. Cat rose a brow at her, the corner of her mouth already piqued as she reached up and removed her glasses.

Kara shook her head at the movement, tracking Cat’s hand to her side as she collapsed the temples of her glasses in on themselves. “Now I know your secret identity.”

Cat hummed her amusement, glancing to her glasses before casting them onto the bed with everything else. She examined the distance between them before gazing back up at the other woman expectantly. “Waiting for something?”

“It is customary to be invited,” Kara remarked, reaching up to unlock her mask despite leaving it in place before resuming her position. “I would never want to intrude, Miss Grant.”

Cat shook her head with a spreading smile, hands turning around to settle on her own hips so that her fingers were wrapped around her back. “I see, so we’re back to that are we, Supergirl?”

Kara bit back her smile, tilting her chin up as she took in an appreciative inventory of Cat’s state of dress before lifting her eyes back up. “You -are- working.”

“I was.” Cat asserted in an obvious tone stepping closer, her fingertips initiating the first contact with the other woman. Her eyes trailed the digits as she spread them across the symbol at Kara’s chest before blinking her gaze back to the other woman. “Until a little bird dropped by…”

Kara straightened, her arms gradually falling to her sides with the progression of Cat’s fingers easing along her family crest. She fought against the demand of her body to increase its consumption of oxygen as she stared at Cat.

“Is that what I am…?” Kara's voice was scarcely above a whisper as Cat gave a sparse nod.

Their eyes locked for a fleeting moment as Cat’s palm slid home before she moved forward and pushed up to kiss the other woman through her mask. Kara remained rooted to the spot, all relays to movement or reciprocation had shorted out the second the other woman leaned in.

Cat stood back again where she had been a second earlier, eyes darting from Kara's veiled mouth to her eyes and back again. “I've missed you.”

Desperation was written on Kara's features amidst a thousand other emotions, each slipping into ephemerality as she instinctively leaned forward.

Cat's fingers tensed against her sigil, her other hand curling around the side of Kara's mask as she tugged it down and led the taller woman nearer. Their noses brushed, lungs sharing what was left of the air separating them and with a flitter of Cat's eyelids, their mouths met without barriers this time. It wasn't until the point that her tongue caught Kara's upper lip that she closed her eyes and kissed Cat back.

Kara's hands slipped across Cat's sides, tightening their grasp as she pulled them both backward. With another bold surge from Cat, the edge of the door frame banged roughly into Kara's back before the other woman's body pinned her in place. Cat bit her lip, licking her way into Kara's mouth as she yanked the other woman's shirt up from the line of her waist. Leaving gloved fingers to burn red welts across Cat's newly exposed skin, heralded by small whimpers that emptied themselves into the air between them. Kara kneaded her fingers around soft curves where Cat pressed bare skin flush against the scaled warmth of Kara's suit.

Cat felt Kara flatten her hands across her back, sending goosebumps across her skin as Kara pulled her completely flush against her and nearly off the ground. She clawed her fingers across contour and muscle across the other woman's suit until she felt the heavier mantle of Kara's cape brush over her knuckles. Cat found the pliable material on either side of Kara's body, winding it around her hands before straightening her arms down to her own sides sharply, forcing Kara from the doorframe and forward as Cat withdrew into her bedroom. Kara's hands encircled her waist, kneading purposefully and stealing the advantage Cat thought she had right out from under her.

Refusing to surrender their kiss, Kara's hands steered Cat's hips, navigating the pair across the room with a few broad steps until the back of Cat's legs pressed against dense cushions. The new pressure and location drew them apart with a joint exhale of relief and repentance. Cat's skin was flush and Kara's lips swollen from Cat's lavish affections upon them.

Kara was practically gasping in an effort to gather oxygen and her own senses. As much as she found herself missing the other woman nearly every hour of each day lately, this certainly wasn't her intention. Her thumbs rubbed up tenderly against Cat's hips before drifting away while her expression appeared to diminish in its more ardent display.

Sensing Kara's shift Cat stepped into the other woman again, laying her hands against the woman's chest as a means to anchor them both to one another. After a series of heartbeats between them, Cat felt Kara's hands on her hips once more which only carried the other woman's name between them like a tribute from Cat's lips. Cat surrendered her weight to Kara's capable grasp as she folded back towards the furniture. Kara guided Cat down onto the small couch, dropping between bare thighs until she was on her knees on the floor, cape splayed out behind her.

Cat's eyes darkened at the vision of the woman in her suit as if she were at some kind of altar. She felt her heart beating against her ribs as both of the woman's persona's became one and the same almost instantly. Cat used the back and arm of the couch for leverage, legs widening as she slid her hips towards the edge. Kara's sheathed fingers had already pushed up her shirt, drawing the thin material from her waist before displacing its touch with the textured palms of her hands. Thumbs whispered across the curve of Cat’s hip bones, rubbing tenderly as Kara bowed her body against Cat's own, the heated source of Cat’s arousal kissing the scaled reaches of her abdomen.

At that moment the world dissolved into nothing more than beating hearts and staggered breaths. Kara nosed the line of Cat’s shirt as she tipped over, fingers dividing the seam of buttons in the wake of her exhale as Cat struggled to find some kind of mooring in the couch with the curl of her fingers. She had relinquished control of the situation to the other woman, and somewhere she doubted if she ever truly had it to begin with. The trembling quake of Kara's lips across her chest uprooted Cat's hands from the furniture, where they immersed themselves in the warmth of Kara's hair. Saturating her sense of touch with its thickness as nails teased along the other woman's scalp, massaging luscious handfuls of sunkissed strands within her grasp.

Kara emitted a soft moan, letting it pour and soak into Cats skin as she pushed gently forward until Cat was driven into the cushions, head resting against the back edge. Kara's touch caused her to start, muscles straining and squeezing with involuntary anticipation, as hands splayed over Cat's bared skin and around her sides. Kara drew her body away, one hand moving to the flat of Cat’s chest where her fingertips drummed against the base of the other woman’s throat, communicating wordlessly that Cat should stay put.

Cat let Kara's hair fall through her fingers, quivering digits stilling only with the surround of Kara's own as she pressed Cat’s arms back, the flat of their palms skimming across one another until Kara's touch strayed elsewhere. Cat felt vulnerable and exposed, her emotions raw and defenseless as she dared not look away from Kara who raised those impossibly blue eyes at her. Fingers eventually folded in on themselves as Cat nodded to the question lingering within their stare.

Kara kissed her again over the flutter of her solar plexus, never looking away as fingers pushed aside the edges of her shirt and curved around the uncomfortably taut band at Cat’s waist. As Kara sat on her heels she guided the lace veil between them down the length of Cat’s thighs and across the curve of her knees. Kara watched as Cat’s hands turned against her own chest as if laboring to contain her heart as she scrutinized every movement Kara made.

Cat's limbs pressed together when she felt Kara urge her legs up to free them of the dark lace before she let the sheer fabric fall from her grasp to the floor. Cat could hear herself breathing in tandem to the thundering of her heart, while her body flooded with electricity at Kara’s amatory touch at her ankles. Fingertips grazed along the curvature of her legs, imparting a vibration of sensation across Cat's skin that carried throughout her entire body enough to make her quiver.

Kara nosed the inside of Cat’s thigh, the strength of her hands fitting under Cat’s body as she raised her up enough to lure her to the edge of the cushion until she was satisfied with the new angle. Textured palms clasped underneath her thighs, escorting the woman’s legs up as Kara altered the slant of her shoulders until the bend of Cat’s legs draped over the round of muscle perfectly.

Cat held her breath as Kara rocked forward, requiring her to adjust her hips. When she flexed her legs for leverage all she felt was the strength of Kara’s frame beneath them. Kara's hands circled her thighs with a covetous fervor, tantalizing the flushed skin and prompting Cat to pant soundly. A noise that grew all the louder in her own ears as she witnessed Kara’s body sliding back across the floor farther.

Kara brushed her lips across Cat’s abdomen with her retreat, the tip of her tongue outlining the scar she found just below the line of Cat's hip making the other woman whimper around each breath she struggled for. Soft kisses were laid across Cat’s skin like a tithe until Kara felt the other woman grabbing for the couch to sit up further. With that slight fraction of movement, Kara tightened her embrace on Cat’s thighs and buried herself between them.

Shock and awe and all manner of emotions vied for a hold on Cat within an instant. Her entire body tensed as want and desire poured over warm skin, melting from her chest between her ribs through her insides, something imperfect, something effortless, coaxed deeper with every stroke of Kara's tongue, every caress of her mouth against her. Cat's hips circled skyward of their own accord, legs constricting hard over Kara’s shoulders, as her hands burrowed into the unforgiving fabric of the couch cushions. An achingly arduous cry crumbled through her lips with the searing heat of Kara’s tongue mapping her insides while the world tilted completely. Cat’s head fell back onto the rim of the couch, her whole body suspended in a battle to drive itself closer to Kara and retreat away at the same time. She felt Kara invade her every cell with each tender movement, the hum of her voice like rolling thunder across her nerves, forcing another moan to escape her.

Kara held Cat to her with one hand wrapped around her thigh, harmonizing with every fluctuation and tremor that sustained itself through the other woman’s frame. Her other hand spread out and apart out near Cat’s solar plexus, fingertips pressing down into the valley just above it in a strengthless endeavor to claim Cat’s heart through the cage of her ribs. She felt intoxicated, having surrendered herself to the intemperance that was Cat Grant permeating every one of her senses.

Cat came without warning or flourish. Without vocal declarations of satisfaction or love as much as she was of want to communicate as much to Kara. Instead, she was breathless and taciturn. It was over before she could salvage anything. Cat felt herself throb and ache, hungering for more but wasn’t convinced her heart could take it. The sensation of Kara’s devotion to her was too generous and with a delayed response her legs pulled up, hands frantically seeking the depths of Kara’s hair in order to usher her up and bear witness to the last vestige of what the woman had done to her.

Kara stayed absolutely still, eyes never leaving the other woman as Cat supported her features in her hands. Fingers pulsed along her scalp as Cat let out a finite shuddering exhale whilst her head fell back with a tiny bounce against the frame of the couch. They remained like that for another heartbeat or two until Cat raised her features, scouring Kara’s own for regret or second thoughts.

She was met with the opposite, layered with a genuine level of self-confident concern. Cat let her legs slacken, chin nearly touching her chest as Kara advanced forward slowly. Cat folded with the gradual movement, her own knee grazing across her cheek as Kara stilled with their intimate proximity. Cat swallowed strenuously, searching Kara's eyes as her throat seemed to close and her vision wavered as she guided Kara to her the rest of the way.

Their lips met reverently, clinging to one another until Cat’s mouth fell open with a quiet gasp at the stretch of her leg still against Kara’s shoulder when the woman fitted herself against Cat's far more sensitive body once more. She buried her hands in Kara’s hair, dragging her down into a deeper more passionate kiss, tugging on her mouth and licking the flavor of herself from Kara's lips.

Kara pressed her body flush against the other woman, moaning into Cat's throat as she felt the wet saturation of her suit with the slight oscillation of Cat’s hips against her. Cat’s fingers pulled at her hair, legs widening enough to permit Kara to rise higher on her knees as she chased after the other woman's mouth as she began to draw away from their kiss. Only to have Cat halt her actions abruptly with the determined pressure of her thighs against Kara’s sides.

Cat’s hands dropped from her hair and rounded Kara’s throat haphazardly as if trying to find a better anchor before forming over the muscle of her shoulders and inward against her crest. Given Kara’s ensuing facial expression, Cat noted that the other woman wasn’t anticipating Cat would stop her, much less, push at her, forcing them to separate and remain an arm's length apart from one another... no matter how enervated Cat seemed.

Kara’s hand surrounded the back of the couch near Cat’s head, body tensing in order to pull away. Understanding now with Cat’s response that she needed to get up and go home. She clenched her teeth against each other, feeling the muscles in her jaw contract amply enough to pull at her chest while Kara tried to keep her features impassive.

Cat’s fingers flexed in place intuitively, provoking Kara to cease any further withdrawal. Kara tipped her head to the side, looking down at the other woman who was still searching every measure of Kara's features before leveling on Kara’s eyes again without waver. Cat's own countenance was still warring to formulate something-anything beyond her sudden introspective mood.

Kara's brow furrowed slightly, her hand flexing against the couch back as she dipped her features a little closer. She never averted her gaze from the other woman's, lips already breaking apart to speak only to be disrupted as Cat moved with an intrinsic impulse. She slid her hands around the back of Kara’s neck, interlocking her fingers together through Kara’s hair for support in order to set herself up completely once her feet found the solidity of the floor. She strained forward, encircling Kara's body, driving the woman back onto her heels to the floor until it was Cat looking down at her. Kara’s hands eased under Cat’s thighs again, rounding up over the curves there as Cat tugged up gently on her hair.

The two moved simultaneously; Kara pushed up onto the balance of her knees, thighs pressed against the couch as Cat slid forward off the furniture altogether. The strength of Kara’s arms cradled her effortlessly as Cat coiled her legs around the other woman’s body. Her arms followed the example, encircling Kara’s shoulders as their figures smoothed against one another. Kara’s teeth grazed Cat’s chin, followed by the pressure of her lips until Cat dropped her head lower and caught the other woman’s mouth all over again.

“Kara...” Cat rasped as they separated enough for air to pass between them. “Stay with me…” She felt gravity’s pull on her as Kara stood and her legs clung even tighter to the other woman who scarcely registered the added weight upon rising.

To her credit, Kara tried not to overthink the request, content on securing Cat within her arms as her lips sought out the tender swell above the other woman’s heart. Cat tousled her hair and claimed any exposed skin she could get to with her mouth as her body shivered with every sensual caress of the patterned weave along Kara's suit rubbing against her as they walked.

Kara seized the bedspread's corner, dragging it and everything atop it to the floor. They were airborne for a few seconds until Kara's knees pressed into the bed as she laid Cat out beneath her, following her down until Kara was braced on them and one hand. Her hair spilled over her shoulders like a curtain around them, shielding them from the world.

Cat's fingertips caressed her face, searching Kara's eyes before her fingers found a suitable grasp that Kara couldn't draw away from and guided the other woman down. Cat couldn't help the deep breath she took the instant their foreheads touched while Kara delivered a trembling exhale rife with Kryptonese. When Kara spoke she heard her in a kind of stereo of the woman's native language and her own. Cat felt overcome all over again, the sensations enveloping her were both her own and Kara’s; like overlapping waves crashing across the same set of rocks.

Kara felt herself and every measure of what she had reduced Cat to immediately. The ardent whorl of Cat’s own inner workings was like a salve applied to her nerves, pulsing towards her core on the edge of every breath, pumping through her veins with every heartbeat. Lush tendrils of lust bound around turbulent and tender devotions of love ricocheted across every fiber of her being until they were interwoven with her own thoughts and senses.

They were a reciprocal cohesion of sensuality; vulnerable and adrift within a felicitous susceptivity to one another.

“What are you doing to me…?” Cat breathed with a subdued intensity, prompting Kara to tilt her head back and separate them.

Both women reacted to the disentanglement audibly and Cat swore Kara's legs nearly gave out as an added response when she felt her weight increase on the bed around her. Fingers threaded through the woman's hair, eyes desperately trying to focus as she fought to speak.

“Say it… Kara... tell me again…”

Kara searched Cat's visage, her chest threatening to cave with the request as she drifted closer and carried a slow breath inward.

“Chad khap rrup ju i zhao.” Kara breathed over her skin as her lips whisked across Cat's with every venerating syllable before drawing back again.

Tears spilled from the corners of Cat's eyes, darkening her sheets and chilling her skin. She knew she could understand the words, she had seconds ago but now her mind failed to translate them. Cat felt them filter through her chest, seeping into her heart just before they were sent through her veins with the next surge of the muscle.

Kara leaned back more as she fought to pull her gloves off with her teeth before delicately caressing Cat's lips with bare fingertips.

Cat swallowed hard, knees pressing against Kara's ribs as she pawed at the woman's shoulders, raising up enough until their features were pressed together once more.

Kara heard the word 'again’ echo through her even though Cat never spoke aloud and repeated herself.

“I give you all my love.” She felt Cat's gasp as if it were her own and continued to articulate against Cat's trembling lips in her native tongue. “Gehd nahn tiv Aovehm Nahv Zhehiod.”

“Touch of life…?” Cat spoke in mystified awe as she processed both languages as if she'd known Kara's her whole life. “What...I don't…” She heard Kara in her mind as if it were her own thought, urging her to breathe slow and deep and to seek out Kara's heartbeat between them like a touchstone.

Kara leaned over Cat further, letting her relax against the bed again without breaking their contact as Cat continued to cling to her.

Cat flexed her fingers, shutting her eyes as she concentrated on the faint thrumming in the far off reaches between them. Each breath brought her closer to the sounds until she could separate the intricate cadences she innately knew belonged to Kara. She detected the other woman as a thought once more, directing her to adjust her focus to her own heartbeat through Kara's influence.

Kara felt the resolving fluctuation of Cat's emotions, the tension in her own body unwinding involuntarily as a result. “Deep breath…” Kara's voice was just above Cat's mouth and as the woman filled her lungs, Kara carefully lulled her head back until they were separate again.

Cat wrapped her arms around Kara's body, digging her legs into her sides until Kara allowed her full weight to press Cat into the bed. Kara was still on her knees, legs folded as she braced the lower half of Cat's body on her thighs. Her hand spread out between Cat's shoulder blades, holding them impossibly closer as Cat buried herself into the side of Kara's neck.

“It is how my people connect to one another,” Kara whispered, nuzzling Cat's body with her own, lips feeling the naked crook of her shoulder and throat. “It...I should have warned you before now... explained... I-it can be overwhelming even for us…especially when...”

“When what…” Cat sighed, touching her lips against Kara's ear for lack of any other skin to find.

“When-”

“Mating.” Cat finished with a definitive perception of the word as far as Kara was concerned with it. Enough that her tone provoked Kara to tilt back enough to stare at her.

“Have you… mated with anyone before?” Cat's tone was gentle, inquisitive and without judgment.

Kara shook her head, brushing their noses together with their proximity to one another. “Not like this…” Kara's fingertips stroked across Cat's forehead for emphasis, leaning in as if to reconnect with the other woman only to stay herself.

They stared at one another for a long moment, traversing each other wordlessly until Cat hugged Kara's shoulders with her arms as Kara lifted her up from the bed and into the depths of her lap as she sat back on her heels. Fingers touched and curled, testing each line and point of Kara's suit across her neck and back until Kara guided her hands to the sigil across her chest.

Kara pressed Cat's fingers against the top of the crest, adjusting her shoulders until Cat saw a slight gap near Kara's jaw where her suit conformed around her. Cat kept one hand in place, pressing firmly against the sigil beneath her palm as her other hand curled beneath the line of Kara's suit and split it apart down the center of her throat.

The material seemed to come alive all its own, compartmentalizing itself as Cat pushed past the line of Kara's second skin around the back of her neck and down between her shoulders. She pressed the flat of her hand between the muscles there, skin on skin, as the suit fit around them both. For one whimsical moment, Cat felt as if she were touching some kind of dragon, powerful and ancient and impossibly warm.

The suit itself breathed with Kara, flexing around the two of them as she straightened further when Cat smoothed her hand down the length of Kara's spine separating the outfit effortlessly. Both of Cat's hands reached behind the woman, curling around the edges of dark blue material as she pulled it apart as far as she could while Kara sat back to provide an opposing motion.

Kara extracted her arms one at a time, permitting Cat to fold her suit down to her waist with her cape in a heap behind her. Kara’s hands settled low against Cat's lower back, keeping her steady in her lap as Cat’s fingers strayed to the skin toned undersuit between them. She traced along the seam at the base of Kara's throat, watching the much thinner material move as Kara shivered. A much smaller emblem was set in the middle of Kara's chest, hardly noticeable were it not for the golden lines that formed the shape. Cat's fingertips outlined the edges, watching as the piping appeared to irradiate beneath her touch as she fit her hand over it. Cat shifted her weight, sliding off Kara’s lap, observing her actions as she manipulated the line of her boots until they split apart.

Kara’s fingers pushed the ends aside, standing up on her knees enough to remove and discard them from the side of the bed. As she straightened back with the purpose of sitting Cat urged her to stay as she was with a look and a touch. Fingers kneaded gently against Kara’s chest, those thin metallic lines of her crest pulsing against Cat's gentle pressure while the back of her other hand pressed against Kara's abdomen. Her fingers curled around the bulk of Kara’s suit firmly, while the muscles pressed against her knuckles trembled and stammered from the contact.

Cat looked up at Kara before she continued any further, feeling the gravity of the other woman’s gaze and everything revealed within those blue depths as if they were still connected by that touch of life Kara had defined.

Kara reached behind herself without looking away, her body stirring with her actions, rocking against Cat’s hand until she pulled the mass of her cape away entirely and held it up between them.

Fingers flexed tighter around Kara’s suit as Cat traced across the line of Kara’s collarbone and down her arm until both of their hands were tangled with each other around the thick red material.

“I can't promise I won't hurt you,” Cat said softly, squeezing Kara's fingers around her cape.

Kara smiled faintly, looking at their hands before turning her eyes back to Cat. “You do know who you're talking to...right?” Kara wasn't sure of that herself on far more levels than Cat could ever be capable of.

Cat nodded, thumb rubbing over the line of Kara's hand. “You haven't... and I believe, with everything that I am that you couldn't, not in that way.”

Kara swallowed hard, the muscles along her jaw flexing visibly as she touched her fingertips underneath Cat's chin, drawing her closer before bowing down to her the rest of the way.

Cat couldn’t help the soft gasp that broke between them as Kara kissed her. She pulled on the cape between their hands and when Kara didn’t budge she stretched herself up with her grip around Kara’s suit.

Possessive fingers kneaded around the back of Cat’s neck, tangling in her hair as Kara opened herself up to the other woman. Tasting the emotion infused in Cat’s every cell as she invaded her mouth. Kara released her hold on the cape, surrendering it to the other woman who ushered it behind herself.

Kara’s hips rolled forward as she felt Cat twist the grip she had on her suit while her own hands occupied themselves with holding Cat’s visage within them. Turning her head just enough to deepen their kiss with a languid hunger, drawing a heady moan from the depths of Cat’s chest into herself. She felt Cat’s knees press against the outside of her own, their bodies gravitating towards one another and away again.

Cat bowed her body towards the other woman, pushing down enough to take the remainder of the suit in her unyielding grip down Kara’s legs until she couldn’t reach any longer. Instantly her hand was against Kara’s chest, kneading and twisting at the sigil set there as she refused to break away from the other woman.

Kara fumbled slightly, pitching forward off balance before catching herself midair without letting go of the other woman. She pulled her knees up against Cat’s legs, forcing her suit further down before moving back again as if to sit on her heels. Cat leaned forward with her, their new position affording her enough reach to grasp the remaining edge of Kara’s suit, helping her out of it altogether before shoving it away to the floor.

Cat pushed forward, forcing Kara down and her knees wide before fitting herself between Kara’s thighs and transposing their height level. With a reluctant whimper of a sound, she worried Kara’s bottom lip between her teeth before breaking their kiss completely. She felt Kara’s hands slip from her hair, caressing along the column of her throat and beneath the already widened neckline of her nightshirt.

She ran her hands along Kara’s forearms then, halting her progress as she caught the woman's hands and gently pulled them away from her, making sure to never look away for fear Kara might take her actions for something else entirely. Cat brought Kara’s hands together within the cradle of her own, squeezing gently as the other woman studied her carefully. Cat bent down just enough to dust her knuckles with the barest of kisses before making a show of dragging the searing wetness of her bottom lip across Kara’s skin. The velvety edge of her tongue along the length of one of Kara’s fingers before curling up and surrounding the end of it, flicking it free of her caress.

Kara sucked in a broken breath through her nose with the electricity disbanding itself across her knuckles, mouth falling open and insides coiling as if Cat’s tongue were pulling on a string knotted deep inside her. She flexed her thighs against Cat’s legs, wanting nothing more than to surge forward and pin the other woman down against the bed. Something in the way Cat looked at her told her to stay put. A thought that was only reinforced with the firm squeeze of Cat’s hands around Kara's as she escorted them down and pressed them onto the muscle of Kara’s own thighs.

When Cat was assured Kara wouldn’t move she raised her hands away gradually, watching Kara’s fingers press into her own skin in an effort to stay where Cat had intended them. Cat wavered closer, forcing Kara’s head back farther given Cat’s higher position on her knees.

“Good girl...”

Kara let out a small grunt of a noise in her throat, feeling the tethers along the base of her spine pull tight and almost seem to vibrate across her nerves at the mere sound of Cat’s voice above her.

Cat’s fingers dipped inside the edges of her shirt, skimming down the opened length until she found one of two remaining buttons near her navel. She glanced down, knowing Kara’s eyes would follow her lead, a notion that was confirmed as she thumbed open the remaining buttons and swore she heard Kara’s heart rate increase. Her own body betrayed her arousal as Kara watched her with the goosebumps that budded up along her figure as a herald to the deeper flush of her skin across her chest and down her torso.

She collected the material into her hands, exposing more and more of herself to the other woman until the shirt fell from her shoulders and draped from the bend of her arms. Cat chanced a look up at Kara then, biting her bottom lip as she caught the rich tinge of red at her throat. When Cat let the shirt fall away she felt Kara jump slightly as if startled. She could see the indistinct vibration of Kara’s heart hammering furiously against her chest and the stretch of her ribs as she fought for each breath. Kara’s fingers were pressed into her own legs hard enough to bruise by the white Cat saw around each point of contact and she let out a subdued noise of apology as a result.

Kara’s eyes cut up sharply with the sound, making Cat’s chest tense near her sternum. With a gradual effort, she slackened her fingers against her legs only to feel all the oxygen in her lungs vacate as Cat leaned forward to brace herself on Kara's hands. She could easily lean less than an inch forward and capture Cat's mouth with her sudden closeness but remained as still as she could manage. The touch of Cat's nose was like fireworks against her senses that fizzled and died when Cat's mouth caressed her cheek headed towards her ear.

“You're overdressed Kara,” Cat whispered kisses against Kara's neck, dragging a series of breathless sounds from the woman that laved over her skin like a desert breeze. “Take it off so I can see you…” Cat mouthed her ear, arousing Kara to moan weakly near her shoulder. “Please...”

Kara heard Cats last word like an invocation, begging for a kind of relief only she could offer. She felt the heat of Cat's nails dragging across the back of her hands, rounding over her thighs and around the muscle there as she waited. Kara pulled her hands away and up, careful not to touch the other woman as she moved. Fingers skittered across her undersuit, trembling against the sigil at her chest until the wrap around neckline gave way. Cat's breath flowed over skin in tides, thick and heavy as she waited while Kara pulled the thin material down.

Cat didn't straighten away until Kara's hands were near her waist. She let her own hands drift away from Kara's thighs as she sat back, permitting Kara to move easier and grant herself a broader view. She studied the other woman brazenly, trailing her gaze across every curve and every cut of muscle as it was revealed to her. Her bottom lip was caught again absently as strong legs lifted Kara up enough so that she could pull the material the rest of the way off herself. Cat swore breathlessly, an arm wrapping around her own midsection for something to hold onto as she drank the sight of Kara in, scalding the vision into her memory.

Kara leaned forward, causing the mattress to dip down beneath the weight of her hands as she started towards Cat. With the first touches of Kara’s hair against her skin Cat moved, drawing herself back across the bed, the warmth of Kara’s cape pressing against her while its owner proceeded to follow her on hands and knees. Kara bent down once Cat ran out of room to go any further back, laying the barest of kisses across the top of her foot and then further up along the line of her shin.

Cat panted when she felt the heat of Kara’s tongue against the round of her knee accompanied by a lavishly devoted kiss against the inside of her thigh that made her moan in her throat. She heard Kara practically growl as Cat’s legs opened to accommodate Kara’s body between them, only to let out a low sob when she felt teeth fit around the jut of her hip and mark her skin. Her stomach quivered involuntarily to the vibrations of Kara’s tongue across her torso and she couldn’t stop the gasping whimpers that began to intensify in her throat as Kara’s lips scraped across the overly sensitive skin that hardened tortuously. A strain that doubled with the wetness of Kara’s tongue before her mouth fastened around the delicate pink peak. Cat’s hands seeped into Kara’s hair, her name given up to the ceiling with another moan.

Kara sucked hard, prompting Cat’s body to bow up and another cry to break past her lips as Kara pushed up enough to make sure their bodies didn’t fully touch just yet. She released the other woman with a small pop of a sound before fitting her tongue into the shallows near the base of Cat’s throat and between her collarbones. She heard her name again, spoken against the crown of her head, muffled by her hair as she continued up. Kara fit her teeth around the curve of Cat’s chin with a low hum.

"Good girl.." Kara's voice was a purr around her words, driving yet another sound to escape the other woman before she eased her touch away as Cat straightened her features so that they might stare at one another.

Cat panted heavily while her fingers massaged through Kara's hair across her scalp, her body was coiled tight and threatened to fling her across the edge Kara had ushered her towards. Kara's eyes were fully dilated, enough for Cat to see her own reflection in their depths. Through her haze of carnality, a spark of a thought ignited across her synapses like fuel to a flame. With it, Cat anchored her hands within Kara's hair and before Kara could stop her she surged forward. They collided roughly, enough for Cat to see stars for a split second until she heard her name break over her skin with an unmistakable resonance.

Kara's focus was fragmented by their nexus as she instantly felt a deep, insurmountable tension pull from all sides at the center of her core out. Kara’s body dipped low, hips digging against Cat's in stuttered circles as the other woman's legs fastened around her own while Cat husked out a string of broken sentiments between them. Her hands fisted around her own cape on either side of Cat's body beneath her as all of their entangled desires, sensations, and emotions extended deep into her body on multiple planes as every ounce of her wanted more and for it all to stop at the same time.

All at once, everything felt as if each molecule in their bodies were careening towards absolute zero and within that ether, nothing else existed but the two of them in those transcendental flashes of coition.

Cat arduously drew their foreheads apart, watching Kara’s eyes widen with the realization as the tethers between them remained despite separating their touch of life. She answered every bruising undulation of Kara's body with her own, hands still holding Kara's features in place by her hair as they shook and pushed against each other. Cat's head fell back, throat bared and body bending sharply away from the bed as she poured Kara's name out of herself to the stars. The tethers of their connection and everything tangled across it ignited every cell in her body, filling her up until everything erupted from the depths rooted between her hips outward. Melting her insides and claiming every muscle in her body for countless moments before she was flung instantaneously into rapturous languor.

Kara's fists twisted hard around her cape beneath them, pulling up on the material as she felt gravity displace all around her. With a quivering whine, Kara felt all those overflowing, undulating waves of arousal and sensation engulf her. Forcing an undeniably primal string of moans and gasps to scatter through her lips against the other woman's hovering mouth. Cat devoured each one with every intake of air that she struggled for, answering back with an unrestrained devotion. Kara felt everything that she was siphon out of her body into Cat and back again on a final consuming tide of inexplicable lethargy that left her insides throbbing and painted her features with enraptured confusion.

Cat flexed her legs against Kara's own, hugging herself around the other woman intimately, soaking up every little contraction breaking across Kara's abdomen in ever abating fractals. Gravity eluded her as her own body pulsated praises of gratification and luscious fatigue until Cat felt the full weight of Kara's frame with a heady bounce against the bed as the other woman's body gave up any effort of supporting itself. Cat repeated herself over and over, telling Kara she was alright and to just try and breathe as she eased the woman's head down against her own chest.

Fingers threaded through Kara's hair, across her shoulders and down her back as both of them panted and struggled forcefully for more oxygen. Kara's hands slowly released her cape as she weakly slid her arms inward until they were pressed against Cat's sides so that her hands might surround the channels of her rib cage. She turned her head just enough to press a quivering kiss above the thundering muscle that was Cat's heart just beneath her passion-streaked skin, only to lay her head back down completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Also, I'm not sure why but this song and it's composition just fits so much with these two at this moment. ](http://youtubeonrepeat.com/watch/?v=7PoIisbJ7HI)


	48. The Brightness of the Sun Will Give Me Just Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after brings with it an unsettling new discovery for Kara and Alex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super THANK YOUS to ChupeyDupey for the beta's!!

Kara drew in a slow breath, her body coming alive on waves of muted electricity drumming against her ribcage and vibrating through her in waves of hums and murmurs. She pulled another impossibly deep breath, with an edge of a whimper, when she felt the length of feathering fingers sliding in and out and round.

A knowing purr rolled across her insides, as a searing wet heat swirled around what felt like the core of the sun between her hips, swelling into a storm of burning pleasure and turning her skin red. Clawing hands found a mate, tangling together as a means to anchor herself as Kara turned her head and let out a raspy, sleep touched moan.

Her hips circled hungrily against the pressure building with Cat’s touch, greedy fingers rubbed, hunted, twirled, and fed, as the blade of her tongue circled in, around, down and under splitting her nerves to the quick. Kara huffed with a wince, eyes squeezing shut as she felt the vacuum in the wake of Cat’s retreating fingers only to have her jaw go slack with the pressure of being opened and exposed.

Her skin stood at attention as chilling wisps of air washed over lusciously soaked folds. Kara fought to untangle their fingers, grabbing frantically for the edge of the bed when she felt the succulent viscidity of Cat’s tongue sculpt and carve itself against her.

Fire erupted behind her eyes, seizing her voice and reducing her to a rambling mess of her native tongue. She felt the earthquake of Cat’s salacious amusement and explicit appreciation of Kara’s present condition. Every breath was like breathing fire and drowning at the same time, her body struggling not to collapse in on itself.

Kara’s head fell back sharply and all the oxygen was sucked out of her lungs with the white-hot lance of steel covered in velvet that was Cat’s touch suffusing her insides. Her body pulsed and throbbed, grasping with a ravenous intent on coaxing the lengths of muscle and surrounding digits deeper and deeper.

“Let go…” Cat’s voice broke through on a thought that spread like wildfire. Kara felt her ribs expand to capacity over and over, quickening the vertiginous affections of the other woman inside her until it reached a kind of terminal velocity and tunneled her vision white.

The second Cat felt Kara begin to lose control she tipped her chin up, curling her tongue up and out where she swirled, lapped and lavished the swollen bundle of nerves just above the enduring stretch of her fingers. She braced herself as an afterthought, free arm wrapping around Kara’s other thigh drawing it near, hugging her body against it to provide some sense of spatial awareness to the other woman.

Kara’s other leg pinned her down to the bed across her shoulder, provoking Cat to purr appreciatively at the building compression of Kara’s legs around her and the near crushing vacillation pulsing over the buried length of her fingers. Kara’s body went slack for an instant and in it, Cat pressed the hard point of her chin against the pliable round of Kara’s body in tandem with one final covetously amorous thrust.

Kara’s body locked up instantly, causing Cat to wince and bite into her bottom lip to keep from crying out herself. She heard the rending of fabric and the warning of something far more solid threatening to break and as she looked up her lungs seized completely at the illumination beneath Kara’s skin as adrenaline fueled her actions.

Her angle was awkward and she was certain she had pulled something in order to free herself in her haste but she could worry about that later. Fingers twisted into Kara’s hair, forcing her up until they collided.

Kara gasped soundly still in the throes of her orgasm and squeezed her eyes shut, hearing the overwhelming resonance of Cat’s voice within her riddled with apology, pride, devotion, amusement, and wonder. Acutely aware of herself, her hands sprung open, releasing the inanimate objects she had been holding before she closed them in on themselves.

“Breathe...god-Kara...my Kara…” Cat soothed aloud and in her mind, her wrist and shoulder burning from the angle she was locked in. “Around me… put your arms around me…put everything around me...” Cat pleaded.

Kara did as she was instructed with trembling limbs, breathing in whimpers and breathless sobs as her body began to plummet towards torpidity.

Cat panted with relief, feeling the otherworldly heat that had come to life behind Kara’s eyes and threatened to punch a hole to the moon subside. Cat eased her head back, capturing Kara’s mouth with her own, tasting the moan that spilled into her throat as she delicately spiraled her fingers free.

Kara’s arms tightened around her further as Cat laid herself out over Kara’s body, wrapping her up in herself and the ruined sheets nested around them. Her lips grazed down across Kara’s throat and onto the reddened plain of her chest as she tried not to vibrate away on the rush of what had just happened.

Minutes passed until Kara realized Cat was whispering apologies between her kisses and affections. She blinked a few times to clear the haze, caught somewhere between wide awake and wanting to fall back asleep. She tipped her head down, pressing her chin into her chest before leaning forward enough to press a firm kiss into the depth of Cat’s hair, prompting the other woman to smile against her skin before raising her head to look at her. Cat’s smile was quick at first before it blossomed in a full display befitting her namesake.

“Good morning little bird…”

Kara couldn’t help the breathless laugh that rumbled through the both of them, as the cat that ate the canary seemed to be the only thought teetering through her mind for a solid minute before she sucked in a deeper breath through her nose. Her expression shifted from lovesick amusement to a more solicitous unease as she swallowed thoughtfully. Fingers trailed up Cat’s back and over her shoulder before filtering into the tangles of her hair, the pressure of her thumb rubbing over Cat’s cheek as the other woman’s expression appeared more subdued and rueful.

Cat pulled her bottom lip inward, fitting the swell between her teeth the longer they stared at one another. Her eyes closed when she felt the pressure of Kara’s fingers drawing her closer, leaving a gentle sigh to filter into the air between them as Kara kissed her forehead. She heard so many little flickers of thought against that kiss she couldn’t think of anything to say.

“I know…” She whispered after Kara drifted away, turning her head in order to lay it down against Kara’s chest instead of look at her.  
Kara let her own head fall back into the pillows with her own deep exhale, eyes scanning over the ceiling as she felt Cat’s hands fit themselves around her sides and hug herself closer. Kara continued to filter her fingers through the woman’s hair, circling the ends of them between Cat’s shoulders and across her spine with languid repetition.

“We’ll just have to figure it out…” Kara stated after countless moments, glancing down as best she could at the other woman to gauge her reaction. When Cat didn’t stir save for the slight flex of her fingers, she trailed her fingers further down the woman’s spine in tight circles. “Thoroughly and often…” Kara’s hands rounded over the curve of Cat’s skin kneading firmly.

Cat gasped on the edge of a moan, her fingers digging in as she lifted her features again to half-heartedly glare at the other woman. She started to move only to watch the world spin as gravity relinquished its hold on her for a few seconds until she was pressed down onto the bed near the foot end.

Kara nosed at her throat, licking at Cat’s jawline before biting at her chin, eyes rolling back as she let out a low grown. Kara drew her touch away slowly, rounding up enough to tug at Cat’s lips with her teeth.

“I need a shower…” She whispered and the next second Cat was naked and alone on the bed.

Her jaw fell open with the sound of her incredulity as she laid there for a solid five seconds trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Using the edge of the bed for leverage she turned herself over roughly catching sight of Kara standing in the doorway of her ensuite, disheveled and blushing along various plains of her body despite her brazen disposition.

Kara had the audacity to actually finger-wave at Cat before stepping back and out of sight. WIth another disbelieving laugh Cat hauled herself up, footfalls heavy on the floor as she strode after the other woman, as an echo of Kara’s laughter erupted from the depths of the bathroom followed by the sounds of running water.

 

\-------

 

Alex shut off the faucet, reaching for a towel and wrapping her hair up in it before securing another around her body. She drew a deep breath, thankful for the steam clouding up the mirror as she grabbed her hairbrush and made her way out. The cooler air of the main portion of the small apartment drew goosebumps across any exposed skin unnoticed by the woman as she walked over to the pile she had set aside for herself before slipping into the shower.

Alex looked over at the monitors across the room, still beeping and humming away with no change other than when she had arrived home from her shift at the hospital. She toweled off the wetter parts of herself, hastily dressing in something more apt for sleeping in. She glanced at the clock, noting that it was nearly six in the morning and the sun would be up soon enough.

Keeping the towel around her shoulders she crossed the room, carefully pulling herself into the bed near the foot end and scooting forward enough so that she could look at Astra properly. She was still paler than Alex would have liked, but the rays of the dawn would eradicate some of that soon enough.

Fingertips tenderly brushed over the inside of the woman’s wrist, down across her open palm before slipping up and away once she reached the end of her fingers. She counted to ten, watching for any kind of response and when nothing happened she gave a small nod.

“Still working on that I see,” Alex said gently, setting her towel over one shoulder as she pulled the length of her hair over it and running the brush through the wet strands.

“Winn told me your heart rate went up for a few minutes last night. Hank said you were probably dreaming.” With a practiced ease, Alex soaked up the bulk of wetness from her hair, twisting the lengths of it into a single braid before tossing the towel across the room near the couch.

Alex moved carefully on the bed, adjusting the other woman’s body here and there, inherently gauging the flexibility and ease of motion and comparing it to the last time she had gone through them.

The blinds opened automatically then and Alex knew the sun would be filtering through the windows onto the woman. She scooted aside, tapping over the controls on the bed to sit Astra up in a reclined position before moving up enough to side beside her. She had her shoulder against the back of the bed, viewing Astra in profile as she gently lifted her head, easing a pillow under her neck for added support and drawing her hair to the side closest to Alex.

“The boy I told you about, the one Kara pulled out of the car? He got to go home today, been with us almost all week.” Alex filtered her fingers through Astra’s hair, drawing the strand of lightning free of the darker lengths. “Found out I can test out of a few more courses. If I manage that by end of the semester I’ll be able to just take another of residency.” Her fingers moved tenderly, weaving the woman’s hair between them with a careful precision.

“It would mean more time spent at the hospital but I would have one, maybe two classes to take at the same time.”

Alex trailed her fingers down the braid, working each strand as Kara had shown her. She chanced another look up towards the monitors, seeing no change in their output even as the sun began to fill the space and coat Astra’s skin.

She had imagined this a hundred times if she were willing to admit it to herself, just not with this particular set of parameters. The first rays creeping along Astra’s exposed skin, her body and countenance devoid of the influences of the world around them entirely while the slant of her chest rose and fell with each unburdened breath.

It reminded her of the first time she had seen the woman as she was now in what felt so long ago in none too dissimilar a setting. There was a dark irony with that that Alex refused to let pull her any further down. The sun had transformed her, like some kind of enchanted curse being lifted. Some prince she had been then and now.

She smoothed the braid over Astra’s shoulder as the unfiltered rays of the sun touched the woman’s skin. Alex drew the covers away, folding them near the other woman’s waist as she leaned into the bed and shifted enough to make herself comfortable as she watched the sun break over the landscape of Astra’s features.

“I really miss you,” Alex whispered. “I missed you before all this and I should have told you before… When we were at that party.” Alex hugged her arms around herself, resting her head on the pillow as she searched over Astra's features. “I just... I don't even know when it happened… but there's this part of you… that's inside of me. I don't even know it's there until I'm just about to fall asleep and it shows up.”

Alex swallowed hard, watching the sun crest over Astra's cheek. “When I've tried to chase it… it disappears and that scares me. I have been trying not to admit it. I have been trying so hard to just mash it down and ignore it and not say it.. because I'm worried you're going to take it as something that it's not supposed to be.”

“I'm afraid that it's my mind preparing me...and that by telling you, you're not going to wake up.” Alex wet the dryness of her lips as she took in a deep breath. “I've seen it, people tell each other all sorts of things and eventually there's this kind of knowing and the next thing anyone knows… everything stops.”

Alex looked out over the skyline, trying to remember what it felt like to have the wind rushing over her skin from so high up. She had tried to mimic the sensation with her motorcycle but it wasn't the same. She let out a rough exhale, swallowing her emotions before taking another breath.

“I can't think.. I can't sleep more than a few hours. I can't breathe without fighting for it. I can't eat...I can't feel anything.” Alex pushed through the stones in her throat, feeling the warmth of the sun as it touched them both. “Except your heart in my hand.” She sucked in a sharp breath through her nose, closing her eyes for just a moment. “And all of it is so selfish.”

She huffed out another breath, leaning into the pillow and allowing herself to get more comfortable, it should amaze her how easy she had found falling even into the lightest of sleep in the brightness of the sun.

“The things you've seen and done. All the extraordinary pieces of your life I will only scratch the surface of. I would love to hear you tell me all about them. I think I've wanted to since I realized who you were. But I don't ever want to wonder if you come back if it was just because I was here. Because I asked or wanted… there's plenty others like Kara, who would want nothing more, who are far more important. I need you to know that.”

Alex glanced at the monitors, their sound working her nerves like a sedative. “They say that we...humans are made of stardust. That we're part of these explosive particles that came together across the universe… I don't know that if on Krypton you were told that or even if your name there means the same thing here…”

She reached over then, wrapping a hand around Astra's arm before squeezing gently, allowing her eyes to close. “Astra means stars…and you're the brightest one I know.”

Alex let herself relax as much as she could, the warmth of the sun and Astra beside her coupled with the quiet sounds she had become so accustomed to blanketed her as exhaustion seeped into her veins. She waited patiently, as the edges of her awareness began to fade, for those fleeting seconds when Astra would manifest on the twilight of her consciousness.

Just as she felt her body start to give in she heard it, on the farthest reaches of her mind. Faint and easily ignored were it not so out of place to what she had become accustomed to. She turned the last ounce of her conscious mind to it, her sleep-deprived mind sending up red flags at the oddity of what sounded like some kind of melody that she knew. A series of notes and phrases that instantly transported her to a safety she had as a child, far too young to remember it's exactness but enough to know it was important.

Important enough to snap awake against the weighted cement that her body felt it was encased in. She tightened her hold on Astra's arm, her mind catching up to her as she realized the broken rasp of familiarity was coming from the prone woman. She sat up roughly, immediately looking at the monitors although they showed no change. She vaulted off Astra's bed, landing in a heap that caused her to swear before she scrambled up from the floor with a grimace.

The words resonated like thunder in her mind, pulling up memories of when that very tune was sung to her, quiet and loving and safe in Kara's arms.

Alex crossed the room in a few steps, fumbling with her phone, holding down a key and waiting for an answer as she came around to the other side of Astra's bed.

“Mom?” Alex’s voice broke and her lungs seemed to work in reverse, robbing her of the ability to formulate words. She knew after a few more moments that she didn't need them with the sounds echoing through the phone that echoed through the door a few minutes more.

Her parents rushed into the room in a flourish, Jeremiah was still in his pajamas while Eliza already had a lab coat on. Alex folded into her dad as he approached her while Eliza went to Astra.

“Alex, baby-girl what's happened?” Jeremiah held her tight, looking over the crown of his daughter's head at his wife preparing himself for the worst.

“She's singing…” was all Eliza could respond with as she looked up from the comatose woman over to her family.

Across town Kara sunk down onto the corner of the bed, the towel in her hand forgotten on the floor as she stared ahead at the TV tucked auspiciously in the corner of the room. Cat was still in the bathroom, brushing through her hair.

“I know you're used to cooking but I think I would rather order something that could be delivered so I can spend more time with…” Cat stopped abruptly at the sight in front of her as she rounded the door. Her heart locked up painfully with Kara's expression and already fearing the worst as she stepped further into the room.

“Kara…?” When the other woman looked at her with red-rimmed eyes she was at her side almost instantly. Hands caressing her face as scalding tears spilled over both of them. “What is it?”

Kara looked back to the TV, forcing Cat to turn sharply, eyes searching the screen before she grabbed the remote from the floor and turned it up enough for both of them to hear.

“-NASA is reporting that a co-orbital asteroid, known as 3753 Cruithne, is apparently singing. The phenomena is not unheard of as noted by NASA research scientists who observed sounds emanating from Halley's comet in years prior. However, this recent discovery is most unusual because of massive differences in quality and noise and the fact that Cruithne is an orbital constant not unlike Earth's moon.

Scientists have speculated that there are complex and entirely different mechanisms that are generating these sounds versus other cometary observations prior to now. The activity on Cruithne is changing, how, they don't know yet. Singing waves are present, according to NASA but buried under a variety of other features they are currently trying to determine and understand. Here it is again the sound waves being generated through some kind of magnetic field through an unknown force…”

Cat kneed up onto the bed behind Kara, wrapping her up from behind as she set her chin gently on the other woman's shoulder. “I've heard that before… that night you were singing to Carter.”

Kara remembered easily. It was the night Cat had kissed her in the hallway. Her arms overlapped Cat’s around her waist as she squeezed the other woman even closer to her. “I know… my mother used to sing it to me when I was little just like him.”

“He’ll be up any minute… if Lena hasn't already gotten him…” Cat breathed gently, feeling Kara's body shake with contained emotion.

Before either of them could move, Cat’s phone rang, pulling her attention. She kissed the side of Kara's neck, stretching to reach it before returning only to offer it to Kara a second after. “It's Alexandra…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Moondust (Stripped) - Jaymes Young](http://youtubeonrepeat.com/watch/?v=xgIFXoLiqsQ)


	49. Heartlines and Responsibilities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The latest discovery of a singing asteroid yields more questions than answers surrounding Astra while Cat and Lena entertain a surprise visitor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to ChupeyDupey for the beta!!!

Kara reached behind herself gripping the back of her suit, pulling it up and smoothing the collar around her neck as it sealed shut on its own around her. She heard sounds behind her in the hallway and immediately pulled up the mask before turning. Carter rushed at her, with Cat trying to stop him to no avail. He slammed into her full force, his hair in all directions and pajamas disheveled from sleep.

He grabbed at her cape, tugging on its expanse as he chanted ‘up’ until she bent to him and hauled him to her. Cat looked ready to scold him and Kara merely shook her head at the woman, wrapping the little boy up in her arms and hugging him to her within the full breadth of her arms. Lena came around the corner and stopped hard, suddenly understanding what all the fuss was about.

Kara whispered quietly to Carter to which he nodded against her before he slid down her body with her help and raced back over to his mother who picked him up effortlessly. Lena stepped inside then, easing up behind her aunt while pulling Supergirl’s attention.

“Has something else happened?” Lena asked quietly, seeing the lines around the heroine’s eyes and already worrying that her brother or mother had done something else to warrant the woman’s attention.

Cat turned slightly, looking at her niece before turning her attention back to Kara as she wavered closer.

“No,” Kara stated plainly, her voice still holding its rougher edge. “But it might.”

Both Cat and Lena looked concerned with that, as far as either was aware there wasn’t anything to consider a threat that might result in Lillian or Alexander responding to. Until the realization hit Cat square in the chest concerning what Olivia had told her earlier in the week.

Kara wanted nothing more than to take all three of them with her, to secret them away into the DEO but that would be revealing so much, to them as well as the Luthor’s. Not to mention how much of a breach of trust that would prove towards her and Hank’s fledgling understanding of one another. Especially considering who both women were, related or otherwise.

“There’s a press conference this afternoon.” Cat’s lack of reaction told Kara volumes and she almost went against her initial consideration of not taking the woman with her. Kara strode forward, hand cradling the back of Cat’s head as she brought them together, eye closing as she drew in a deep breath and rooted herself into their heartlines.

Cat heard Kara’s declaration of love for her all over again across veins of apologies and concern. She squeezed Carter back when he hugged her shortly after while Lena studied the pair for only a moment before averting her gaze.

“Don’t go into the city this afternoon.” She uttered before slowly drawing away, taking a moment longer to search Cat’s eyes before she blinked and stepped back. “Any of you, just in case.” She looked between the three of them before leveling on Cat once more. “I’ll be there, no matter what.” She was trying to assuage any further concern about those who would be in the city, those who had been invited, including some of Cat’s own people to cover the press conference. “Just-”

Cat nodded faintly as Carter was already waving. “Go.”

Kara lifted off the floor and drifted through the balcony doors before the curtains were whipped about as she took off into the sky.

Cat turned, reaching a hand out to Lena to cup her face, trying to assure her that none of them were responsible for the actions of others they were related to.

“Think you could wrestle this unruly little prince into some clothes?”

Lena looked confused. “She just said-”

“I know, and that conference isn’t until noon, we’re not going anywhere near it. But I’m starving and if I just sit here, even with the two of you I’ll end up doing something I’ll regret.” It was her way of saying the longer they remained to just sit and watch, the more likely she was to run headlong towards that press conference just to ensure Kara remained safe. Despite knowing that would actually compromise the other woman, not to mention anyone else that might actually find themselves in real danger.

Kara barreled through the skies, circling easily and backtracking her own progress before cutting sharply around another building and headlong into one of the DEO’s aerial entry points. She felt and heard the scanners running over her as she continued forward, not waiting for clearance or approval.

Just as she was about to walk through the barricade it split, allowing her to pass unhindered as she made for the nearest stairwell point. Once beyond the door, she vaulted up to the residential level Astra was on before easing down onto the landing.

Already she could see the various individuals vying for a spot in the room but the only one she took proper notice of was Jeremiah. He caught her movement a split second later, excusing himself to meet Kara midway down the hall.

“Is she-”

“No… she’s still not responding. Not even her vitals are changing just…”

“She’s singing…” Kara supplied, looking at the agents who stepped out of her way as she rounded the door frame and slowed to a stop.

Alex was on her in a split second, arms wrapped tightly around her as she muttered everything she could remember about what had happened, even down to calling Cat when Kara hadn’t answered her phone before Kara eased her sister back.

“I remember it, Kara, I remember you singing it to me it..it was like...like a bomb going off when it happened. After an hour Hank came up.. Told me about the asteroid cause they’re worried, they’re worried it means something bad but I know it doesn’t. It can’t possibly. You would never hurt me and-and-and” Kara tightened her hold on Alex’s arms, glancing up to Jeremiah to see if he was fully aware of Alex’s state even as her sister continued.

“When I play the sound from the asteroid and listen to Astra at the same time they sync up. She’s a little off but only because she’s… still... But I know that song, -you- sang it to me when I was little and I knew, I knew Astra had to’ve sung it to you too otherwise how would they-”

“My mother sang it to me,” Kara interjected firmly. Alex’s sudden stutter at her theories evident on her features, pulling down at the smile of hope that had begun to form. Kara felt sick with it and reached up between them to pull down her mask. “Astra never sang that to me, my mother did… whatever you might have thought. Alex I… she’s not awake, she’s not consciously making some effort because she’s separated from her body or I don’t even know what you thought..”

“Meaning what Kara?” Alex said roughly, studying Kara’s features carefully.

“It’s not her, it’s my mother somehow… she could feel Astra after-”

“What’re you saying? That.. what? Astra’s-”

“I’m not saying -anything- Alex… aside from suggesting that you really need to rest. That we’re going to need to take time to get all the answers.”

“We don’t have time-”

“Alexandra!”

Kara never used her full name, hadn’t since Alex could remember and with it she felt as if she had been slapped. Her voice instantly quieting and her mind suddenly catching up with itself and how she was behaving.

“Listen… please. Dad’s going to work on the asteroid, Mom’s going to put someone in charge of monitoring Astra -with- Winn and then she’s going to take care of you okay?” Kara looked past Alex to those she mentioned and how before looking back to her sister. “We’re going to figure this out, all of us, but you of all people know we have to do it right…”

Alex nodded a few times, stepping back into Kara and hugging her tightly. “I’m so tired…” She admitted on the breath of a whisper.

“I know…” Kara cut her eyes up to Eliza who was already moving closer before hugging Alex even tighter to her. “It’s going to be ok…”

Alex nodded with a small sigh, dropping her head before gently pushing back and looking at her mother. Eliza offered her a gentle smile, easing an arm around her before passing a look of gratitude to Kara before she led the other woman out.

Once Kara knew Alex was far enough away she let out a dark sigh, looking at the others surrounding her as if waiting for her to answer the meaning of life.

“It’s a Kryptonian lullaby. Alex knows it because I sang it to her when she was little, just like I knew the second I heard it on the news.”

“So you’re saying an asteroid is singing in Kryptonese and NASA scientists have just picked it up?”

Kara shook her head. “The comet is merely producing the melody…” She gestured towards Astra who despite her comatose state started singing again. It was quiet and broken, nothing like how she would have sounded were she putting conscious effort into it. “She’s producing the words.”

“How is that even possible?” Hank questioned, crossing his arms over his chest while Kara stepped closer to her Aunt, scanning her features as if to do so would will her eyes to open.

“Twins,” Kara stated as if that explained the entirety of the situation.

“What?”

Kara let out a slow exhale. “My mother and Astra are twins. Krypton’s only twins in millennia.” With another once over she reached out for Astra’s hand, squeezing it gently before turning to look over at the director. “They’re capable of a lot… but I don’t have the time to ask either of them about this right now ..”

“Either of them? What do you mean either of them? You’re speaking of them in present tense Kara. Your Aunt was on Fort Rozz and your mother on your planet when-”

“My father took it upon himself to knock my mother out and throw her into a pod just like they did me..” Kara explained roughly before letting go of Astra and moving back over to Hank, leveling her gaze with his as she came to a stop in front of him. “I don’t know where she is, and I don’t know how this,” she gestured to Astra, “is even occurring. I have an idea, which can’t be any crazier than Alex’s but I can’t focus on it right now.”

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t do what needs to be done, and try to find the answers to those questions with the time we have. Secretary Marsdin will be here soon. I know you have a joint team down at the site for the conference and I know I need to be there.” Kara swallowed hard, lifting her chin and broadening her shoulders while Hank kept his expression impassive while those in the room looked on. “We have a job we have to do, despite these -very- personal distractions. If I can’t do that, I’m no good to this organization or anyone else. Especially if anyone decides they don’t like what the secretary is going to say to the world today.”

Hank drew in a deep breath, studying her for a long moment before reaching out and setting a hand on her shoulder, giving the muscle there a firm squeeze.

“I promise you, when this is over today, we’ll do everything we can to help you figure this out however you need us.”

Kara smiled tightly, giving him a small nod and letting out a huff of an exhale through her nose. “Let’s get to it then, I trust those here know what they’re doing. Anything else that needs to be discussed can wait a little longer.” She chanced a look towards Jeremiah with that who smiled at her warmly before she looked back at Hank.

“Diana is with a few of the lead agents back on the main level. Marsdin should be here within the hour.”

Kara nodded, stepping back enough to allow him to lead as she brought her mask back up and followed after him.

Back at Cat’s home, Lena was just finishing up, pulling at the line of the fitted cardigan she wore as she gave herself another once over.

“I hate to say it but you do know dark jewel tones would actually do wonders in contrast to all the black.” Cat voice was gentle, holding no judgment or preconception as she took in Lena’s appearance. The angle of her features coupled with the fair nature of her skin and black of her hair lent themselves to the fashion choices she was making, then again so would a well-tailored suit.

Lena merely smiled at her aunt’s reflection in the mirror before she turned to face her. Eyeing Cat’s own appearance for a moment as she stepped over. “Says the woman who could have paid for the entirety of my tuition with what she’s wearing to a casual Saturday brunch with her family.”

Cat grinned like her namesake, tipping her head ever so as the words that left Lena’s mouth finally hit the both of them. She saw it in the sudden flicker of Lena’s expression from amused to taken aback.

“If you cry, you’ll ruin your makeup,” Cat said gently, easily grabbing a kleenex from the stand near the door. “The eyeliner alone looks at least ten minutes worthy.” She offered up the tissue to her niece who took it with a self-deprecating laugh.

Cat couldn’t help but scan over the woman’s pants, the long straps on removable swivel hooks at her waist looked like fallen suspenders but it was the ladder work of straps and eyelets down their length that had caused the smile. “Carter’s going to have a field day with those. Don’t be surprised if each one ends up with a dinosaur bound beneath them.”

Lena couldn’t help but laugh letting out a breath with a small shake of her head. “I didn’t mean to interrupt again this morning-”

“You didn’t,” Cat assured, watching the other woman carefully.

“I just.. I heard you with Carter and thought you needed help with him. Then I realized who it was but… when I saw her expression, I couldn’t help but think ‘what now’.”

Cat let out a small breath, reaching up to adjust the wide collar of Lena’s sweater, thankful the studs adorning the vast majority of it were blunted for Carter’s sake. “There may always be a ‘what now’.” Cat let out a breath all her own at the reality of that statement on a whole other level of understanding. “In fact, I’m relatively certain of it. However, I’m not going to let them or others determine how I live, or love or consider family.”

Lena pulled in a deep breath at that, giving a small string of nods as she allowed those words to settle into her.

“Now, if you’re ready, I’d like to take my family out to that brunch you mentioned and get back here before that damn press conference happens.”

Lena chuckled with a small sniffle. “Let me get my bag and I’ll meet you downstairs. Carter’s things are already down there ready to go.”

Cat made her way downstairs easily enough, her smile only growing exponentially at the state of her son within his playpen. “This is what you want to wear to breakfast, my prince?”

Carter looked up from his toys at her, standing up easily and heading over to its edge to which she let him out a second after before attempting to pick him up only to have him back up a step.

“Wat Momma.” He made a show of fixing his clothes and pushing down his hood with a small wiggle causing the tail attached to his pants to shimmy back and forth. “Lenateryx says I could… bus I has to ask first. Momma?”

“Yes, Carter?” Cat asked with a wry tone.

“Cans I wear dis peas? Mamasaurus put a stap on the tail like dis.” He reached for the tail then, pulling it around where one of the spikes along it had indeed been modified with a small strap that he put on his wrist. Resulting in the thing not dragging the ground or threatening to hit anyone he might run into if he were walking. “So I fit wight.”

Cat glanced up at the movement on the stairs, watching Lena hold a hand over her mouth trying not to make a sound as she looked on and Cat knew there was no way out of it now. “You have to be very careful. If anyone steps on you, Mommy’s going to have to do something about it.”

“Like Angasaurus!?” He asked excitedly

“No. Hopefully not, are you going to be able to sit down right?”

Carter nodded over and over and just to prove it ran over to his little chair nearby and made another show of moving the tail base enough to sit so that even when he removed the strap it stayed out of the way.

“Mama showed me.”

“She did… I see.” Cat reminded herself she needed to talk to Kara about this one, whether to thank her or reprimand her she wasn’t decided on yet. It didn't strike her until a second later, on pure afterthought, that she didn't correct her son concerning the other woman. Neither did she correct herself which was all the more unsettling. Cat swallowed heavily, feeling her heart skip a beat as she told herself that she and Kara had to stop skirting around stating that they needed to talk and actually take the time to do so.

Soon.

“You have to be very careful ok? Just in case, we’re going to take extra pants.”

“Otay Momma.” He grinned at her until Lena caught his attention when she reached the bottom of the stairs. His eyes widened slightly as he caught sight of her and was up and running over to her in the next moment. He started to grab for her only to stop himself and hold his little fists in front of himself as she looked down at him.

“Hi.”

“Lenateryx… cans I see?” She tipped her head at him and when she didn’t answer he pointed to one of the straps on her pants.

Cat mmhhmm’d loud enough for her niece to hear as she moved to grab a thin coat for herself.

Lena ignored her aunt and bent down to the little boy. “Sure, they’re very handy things straps.”

With her permission he reached forward, touching and testing the wide bands along her knees where she was bent down, even so much as putting one of his hands under one and testing its holding strength. Once he was satisfied he stepped back, hands behind him as Lena stood.

“Tank you.”

“You’re welcome little man.”

Carter beamed at her and then ran for his mother who wrapped him up and hauled him high before setting him on her hip and grabbing her bag.

“I’ll get his bag. You've got a handful already.” Lena offered with a small thank you from Cat just as her phone went off.

“Car’s here.” She offered, nosing Carter with a small laugh on his end before grabbing her keys and making for the door. Cat stepped back in surprise upon opening it to find someone standing there, hand raised to knock.

The woman on the other side rose a high brow at the trio in front of her, wondering if it was October instead of barreling into March. The woman in the back looked like a vampire, while the little boy was dressed as a dinosaur and in the middle was-

“Ronnie?”

The woman grinned, watching the younger woman behind Cat look at her then back with a kind of double take.

“You can’t just send me a message like that and not expect me to contact you, Kit.”

“Contact yes, show up at my front door no.”

“You gonna invite me in or?”

“No.. not yet, you’re going to march your butt back down my steps and get in that car..”

Lena looked lost and on edge as if she were debating starting a fight or yanking Cat and Carter back inside and shutting the door. Clearly, the two women were familiar with each other otherwise Cat wouldn't have offered this Ronnie join them. It was the surprise factor of it all that had thrown her into a kind of self-preservation mode, that and Carter and the tension of the what-ifs the rest of her family might be up to running rampant across the edges of her mind.

Sharon turned enough to see the SUV that had pulled up as she had been ascending the stairs before looking back to her half-sister when a realization hit her over the head like a bag full of bricks when she glanced back at Lena.

“That’s...oh shhh-" Sharon glanced to Carter, "-oot. Ok. I should have called, that's evident.” Sharon cleared her throat and stepped back and down and actually opened the doors for them all. “Normally I wouldn’t get into cars with strange people but you’ve always been an exception Kit.”

“Lena sit in the middle with Carter so I can figure out what the hell is going on,” Cat stated with purpose, already headed down after the other woman.

Lena nodded, taking her cousin and studying the stranger before doing as she was told while Cat snagged the redhead by the arm and yanked her around to the other side of the car.

“What the hell are you doing here?!”

“Hello, love you missed you at Christmas, how's-”

“Sharon!” Cat hissed at her through gritted teeth, watching Lena settle Carter in the car seat through the window before glaring back at the woman.

“Your message, Cat. Did you think I wouldn't follow up?”

“Yes but follow up and showing up are two entirely different things and you know it.”

“Yeah well, this one needed a personal touch alright? Shit Cat, I didn't know she was here or I would've waited until I could get you alone.”

“Were you already here?”

“As fortune would have it yes. I'm transporting a collection for a client to your lovely art museum. So imagine my surprise when my little sister not only texts me at random but follows it up with a god-damned novel. I would have called but given the situation, I thought, hey, why not surprise you.”

“Your timing is perfect as usual.”

“Hey, you contacted me remember? And not for a catch-up, Cat. We haven't seen each other in years much less talked to each other in a few months and you drop that on me? Who's being rude and inconvenient here?”

“Get in the fucking car Sharon.”

“Ooh, I always loved how that award-winning mouth of yours falls right to the gutter when I'm around.”

“Shut it Ronnie and wait before you go introducing yourself just yet. If you do nothing else, she's rough around the edges thanks to her own family right now and only barely knows you exist so just-”

“Alright, I'll lay off the charm okay, I got it. Ease up, take me wherever this chariot is going cause she's starting to stare.”

Cat glared at the impossible woman before walking back around the car and sliding in, letting her sister help herself into the vehicle before telling the driver where to take them.

The journey to Rhodes, however short seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Especially when the only conversational noise came from Carter asking about things he saw out the window. Cat had accommodated him quietly but it did nothing to ease the tension as they carried on.  With their arrival, Cat led the way as their hostess showed them to the Amber Room, thankful she had called ahead and not just gone out on a pure whim. Before even sitting down she ordered a round of mimosa’s, juice for carter along with a whiskey tango for herself and a bloody mary for her sister.

“You’re expecting a heavy conversation.” Sharon mused at the order once the hostess was gone around a wall. She made sure to take the seat near the back corner, having lost the better vantage position to Cat herself, so that she could see the whole of the room.

Cat cut her eyes to the other woman with the comment, helping Carter get settled in his highchair, tail and all, while Lena grabbed a few toys from his bag to occupy him while she inconspicuously tried to study both women.

“I was expecting a relaxing meal out in order to get my mind off things for even a short time, rare as that is and yet.”

Sharon made a dismissive noise. “Any thought of relaxing went out the window when you turned eighteen Kit.”

Cat made to say something more as Sharon leaned back in her seat completely self-satisfied and assured, only to keep silent as their waitress arrived. On her arm was a tray of drinks along with a cheese and fruit plate and the a la carte selections.

Lena watched the pair of them as if they were playing a round of tennis but instead of focusing on the game were trying to out hit each other with torque and sheer velocity. She let her eyes linger on Sharon a moment, surveying her as she busied herself with the plate of food at the center of the table. There was a kind of genuine accessibility to the woman, interwoven with an odd inner strength built on what Lena could only determine was a genuine sense of humor about herself in any given situation.

“Bring a carte sampling for the table please and give us a few more minutes to decide if you could.” Cat requested, as the waitress nodded and flitted away just as before. “Evangelena…?”

The named woman straightened slightly, watching Sharon take a sip of her bloody mary as if she were some kind of shark before looking to Cat who was already tucking into her whiskey. “Aunt Kitty?”

Sharon hummed her amusement while Cat cut her eyes to the woman again before responding to her niece. “Take a drink and a breath…” Cat waited as Lena reluctantly did so before continuing.

Lena took a hearty sip of her mimosa, surprised at its smooth effervescence and very little burn, watching an all too familiar curl of a smile twist at Sharon’s lips instead of where she usually saw it on Cat’s.

“This is Sharon O’Connell.”

The woman leaned up with a purposefully delayed reaction, never taking her eyes off of Lena as she did so. She held her hand out to the younger woman a second or two afterward. “Been a while but you seem to have fared well.”

Lena took the woman’s hand reluctantly so as not to be rude, her brow furrowing as she looked at Cat then back again. “I’m sorry… I-”

Cat let out a sardonically disgusted sound of her own, giving a small shake of her head at her half-sister’s panache. “Oh stop it you’re eccentric we know, this isn’t one of your cloak and dagger acquisitions Ronnie.”

“I’m your other aunt.” She clarified with another smile before letting go of Lena’s hand and sitting back again.

“She’s the one who brought you to the Luthor’s when you were little.” Cat expanded, watching her niece carefully as the younger woman downed the rest of her mimosa.

“What..” Lena cleared her throat, trying not to choke as she stared at the redhead across the table. “Are you doing here now? I thought you lived in New York or London or something?”

“I asked her to look into a few things after… after everything at the Seraphim.” Cat ushered, passing over her untouched mimosa just in case before glancing at Sharon. “Although I didn’t expect her response to be quite so insistent or in person.”

Sharon grinned and gave a small shrug. “As I said, some things just need a personal touch.”

“Meaning what exactly?” Lena questioned sitting forward as she watched the two women exchange a thousand words between a single look.

“For starters, Evangelena, did you know…” Sharon started while swirling the celery stalk within her drink as if it were a straw.

Cat had to sit back herself and roll her eyes around another sip of her own drink with the display as they all waited for the woman to continue.

“You’re the majority heir to all of Lionel Luthor’s estate and holdings?”

Cat actually choked causing Carter to giggle. Sharon remained somewhat nonplussed at the news as she patted Cat on the back gently while Lena’s jaw nearly hit the floor. Before any of them could make another sound the waitstaff came in with a refresher of drinks and the ordered sampler cart.


	50. Please Have Mercy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the world is being made aware of the DEO, Cat gets a phone call from Lois that could threaten Supergirl's secret identity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to ChupeyDupey for the betas and holy Fark peeps 50 chapters

Supergirl hovered above the growing crowd, taking note of the many cameras and phones trained on her as she did so. The Secretary was just arriving, flanked by Hank and Diana as they made their way to the podium while National City’s mayor finished up his introduction.

“Everything appears clear,” Kara stated stoically, eyes scanning over the crowd unhindered as she searched for weapons or other suspicious elements. She listened as other agents sounded off through the comm system before Vasquez relayed the overall grids surrounding each agent’s location as being clean.

The crowd erupted as Marsdin stepped onto the dais, shaking hands with the mayor and other prominent figures representing their city or districts before she took to the podium. She thanked the mayor for the introduction before barreling headlong into the purpose of their current situation.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, thanks to Supergirl, and the valued efforts of others, it has come to our attention that the world needs to step into the reality of our own future. We may not always know who our enemies are, or where they come from and in light of recent events it has come to the attention of many that no one government should have unilateral control.

If there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's that leaders are stronger together. Which is why I am proud to announce that fourteen other nations, to start, have decided to put their faith in this one and the formation of the United Coalition of Extranormal Operations. Each participatory country will have their own specifically based branch built upon the US division’s own founding models.”

Another comm check went out with the eruption of the press core and surrounding crowd. This time, however, instead of checking in, Supergirl allowed herself to descend into proper view of the crowd, sending off another round of flashbulbs and commotion until she held up her hands to quiet the crowd.

Once the din of their applause and questions quieted she settled onto the dais, coming to stand in line with Hank and Diana around Marsdin. With a small smile, the Secretary nodded appreciatively before turning her attention back to those gathered in front of her.

“The purpose of the UCEO will be to handle threats to Earth's security beyond the power of conventional enforcement groups. The UCEO will monitor the entire Earth for terrestrial and extraterrestrial interference and exploitation. It will maintain international and extra-terrestrial peace and security. To that end, its primary directive will be to take effective, collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace. In pursuit of that directive it will suppress acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and strive to bring about, by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace.”

Cat stood in her living room, pacing about quietly as she watched her own network’s coverage of the conference at a low volume. Carter was upstairs, tucked in for his usual nap, while Lena and Sharon were in the kitchen discussing the various particulars the woman had alluded to at brunch.

She felt her heart racing as cameras pulled wide or turned abruptly from Olivia to focus on the woman of steel. She studied what she could with a critical eye, desperately wishing she could see the surrounding crowd. She even considered contacting her weekend service and slipping out unnoticed, making her way there just to feel the surrounding energy as a gauge of what might be waiting for all of those around the podium.

As Olivia continued outlining this organization’s mission and intent, Cat's focus remained on Kara. Supergirl stood proud and determined. The open kindness of her eyes serving as a strong juxtaposition against the blazing emblem on her chest that she pressed out further with the broadening of her shoulders.

Cat was pulled from the intensity of her observations as her phone buzzed in her hand and she accepted it without looking.

“Cat-”

“Are you watching?” Lois’ voice was subdued, to say the least, even through the phone.

Cat took a moment for herself to answer, her gaze drifting from Kara to Diana on her screen. “Yes.”

“Are you there in person?”

“Not a reporter anymore Lane.”

“You make that choice or did she?”

“She?”

“Your Supergirl.”

Cat continued to pace, however slowly, filtering Lois’ tone through her words. “Lois… why did you really call?”

“You know it's,” Lois continued as if Cat hadn't even spoken. “It's really amazing. I never started to put it together. It's just kind of funny, you know, cause a good reporter isn't supposed to let anything slip by her.”

Cat felt her heart skip, looking up at the screen as the cameras pivoted again to the trio alongside Olivia. A whole world of different thoughts running through her veins like ice.

“You were always the better reporter, I know I never said it and I can't believe I'm saying it now but honestly Cat you really are. Yet there you are not being a reporter, practically ruling the world as you know it and still knowing so much.”

“Lois-”

“Do you know how vile it is to hear the first rumblings of the city in the morning like a freight train when you've been sitting up all night, crying Cat?”

Cat felt her chest constrict with each breath, slowly dropping into the nearest chair as she watched Supergirl turn just enough to look directly into the camera as if she knew Cat was watching.

“Do you know what it's like to have to come into a place like The Planet, knowing exactly what it is we both do and not be able to say a single fucking word? Not be able to tell anyone I know who or what someone really is?”

“Lois, listen to me-”

“No, you listen, Cat, because there are rare moments when I ask anyone, especially you for anything. Right now is one of those moments.”

Cat strained to hear the other woman on the phone as she quieted.

“You're the only person I can even fathom that might be in the same situation only in reverse. You at least got the superhero beforehand.” Lois sighed roughly. “Fuck I don't even know if you know who she is much less…”

“Know what Lois?” Cats voice was a whisper of a thing hanging on the edge of a cliff.

“Diana.”

With the name, Cat turned the phone away from her mouth in order to obscure the exhale of relief that rushed through her fingers.

“She...she said you figured it out that morning at the hotel.”

Cat rubbed her hand over her face feeling the rush of adrenaline burn through her nerves. “I didn't, she didn't confirm anything and I didn't ask for specific details. It-it was just the way she said something when looking at Supergirl’s cape and you were in the other room with Lena and-”

“Do you love her?”

Cat was taken aback by the question, her brow crinkling together as she tried to make sense of the other woman’s question. “I...love Ka-”

“I love Diana,” Lois interrupted as if she were having the conversation with herself. “Our son loves Diana… Our son Cat. How much danger is that going to put him in?”

“No more than the positions your family has in the military, or mine elsewhere, or even our own ventures towards those dangerous things you and I have built our careers on. Frankly, I think with people like Diana and Supergirl they're safer than before-”

“So you have thought about it.”

“Lois, single train of thought here.”

“She had to tell them, because of Supergirl, because of others...others Cat. There are others, but Diana had to tell them, chose to tell them to push all this forward to protect them and Supergirl and-”

“You.” Cat stated forcefully, hoping her tone would shake Lois into some semblance of rationality. “She did that for you, screw the rest of it.”

“You don't know that.”

“Why else Lois? I'm sorry, wait no I'm not. You need to get your head out of your ass Lane. These superhero types have one universal invariant that I'm starting to realize, especially with your phone call. They're self-sacrificing not because of what they are capable of, or some obligation to humanity. It's because of who they love. The reason Diana has done whatever it is you think she has wasn't for anything or anyone else but you.”

“How do you ask someone to marry you when they go and do something like that?”

Cat felt the wind fall right out of her sails with that one, going so far as to offer up a bemused breath of a laugh. “Shit Lane…”

“I know.”

“You… you're asking the wrong person with that one.”

“I know, but you're the only one who could even begin to understand…”

“This is your existential crisis?”

“That and being terrified of moments like this where God only knows what could happen.”

Cat glanced back at the TV then as Olivia seemed to be finishing up.

“Each participatory country will have their own specifically based branch built upon the foundation models of the US division’s own founding models. That said, the United States will have two main locations. In agreement with other foreign heads of state, the headquarters of the UCEO will reside within National City, California overseen by Director Hank Henshaw.” Marsdin indicated the man who took a half step forward.

“With a subsidiary branch located in Metropolis, Delaware overseen by Director Diana Prince.” Again the designated woman stepped forward.

“Until such time as other participatory nations can convene accordingly, both will operate under joint direction within the U.S. established Division of Extranormal Operations which will be aided voluntarily by National City’s own Supergirl.”

The hero in question elevated slightly, floating just above Diana and Hank’s heights overlooking the crowd.

“The land occupied by the DEO Headquarters and subsidiary divisions are to be considered under the sole administration of the UCEO and not the U.S. government, or any other associated nation. They are to be considered extraterritorial locations where any, including those not of this planet, may seek asylum or refuge through a treaty agreement with the U.S. government and others, without fear of persecution or imprisonment depending on the circumstances of the requested sanctuary.”

Marsdin straightened, taking a moment to let her statement settle in. “I know there are many questions and concerns about this uncharted endeavor. As a means of transparency, I, as a representative of the United States, along with all fourteen other participatory nations will be providing all supporting documentation concerning the formation of this organization, its charter and various standards and location sites within the next few hours.”

“Your girl looks good.” Lois teased feebly.

“She's not my girl.”

“She's National City's Supergirl, you're the Queen of National City so naturally that makes-”

“Lois.”

“What?”

“Do you love her.”

“Yes.”

“Would your life be any less complicated or fulfilling without her?”

Lois took a long moment before even breathing, enough that the network anchors we're back in the main shot going over every little minute letter of Olivia's statement. Cat watched with a prideful swell at her own network breaking the details other networks were still scrambling to get concerning this new UCEO. Cat owed Olivia an extra cover spread for that one.

“No.”

“Then put a ring on it Lane.”

Cat heard laughter, a small squeak of a thing at first, that blossomed into full-blown hilarity.

Cat smiled with relief, turning away from the TV as she stood, crossing her living room with a much easier stride than moments prior. She breathed a heavy sigh on the bridge of a laugh as Lois followed suit.

“God I'm a mess.”

“I knew that already,” Cat replied, wrapping an arm around herself. “Listen, if you have to, just wait a little longer. I get the feeling you've waited long enough and that coupled with everything else this past week is just grating on your nerves. Let the dust settle, take a breath and do what you do best.”

“What's that?”

“Take the initiative. Be fearless Lane. You're good at it until you stop to think.”

“Very funny coming from you.”

“Yes, well we're not talking about me.” Cat turned with the slight knock on the door. “Think you can manage that?” It was the most subtle way she could think of to ask if Lois was alright.

“Yeah. Thanks Cat, I-” The line stuttered and Cat already knew Lois would be letting her go.”It's her.”

“Don't keep her waiting… at least not too long.”

“I'll call you.” With that, Lois switched lines and Cat hung up just as she opened the door, finding Kara. Glasses, jeans, a thin top and a fitted jacket with her hair half pulled back, Kara.

“Hi…” Kara spoke softly, although the weight of far more than she was willing to let show in her posture was made evident in that simple greeting. She adjusted her glasses, pushing them higher on the bridge of her nose as Cat stepped past the threshold.

Cat’s fingers touched her first, edging the lines of her jacket aside before spreading out over Kara’s chest until her palm pressed against her firmly, the tips of her fingers digging in protectively.

Kara felt Cat’s touch as if it were wax poured from a candle, spreading over her senses before hardening where her sigil would normally rest. With its vacancy, she felt Cat’s fingers continue to curl until her shirt was twisted into the grasp of her fist.

Cat drew herself closer with the motion of her fingers until they were nearly pressed together, held apart by the bend of her arm. Kara reached up, covering Cat's hand with her own before closing the distance between them. The touch of their lips was hesitant, answered by Cat with a soft, indiscernible sound before she pushed up to reach the other woman. Kara breathed the other woman in, teething her bottom lip before breaking away.

“Hi,” Cat answered, nosing Kara's features with a tender nudge of motion before looking up at her.

“What was that?” Kara asked, not that she minded, but despite the chaste nature of their kiss, the intention behind it had made her knees weak.

“I can't just kiss you?”

“You can, whenever you want, however you want. That just felt different.”

“I missed you.”

Kara leaned forward, placing a kiss on Cat's forehead. “You can say you were worried.”

“Worried implies being distraught. I was no such thing.” Cat admonished half-heartedly. “I was concerned, especially with that warning you gave earlier.”

“Better safe than sorry.” Kara allowed, feeling Cats fist relax and smooth over her chest affectionately, toying with her shirt collar.

“Is that always how it's going to be now?”

Kara let out a deep exhale through her nose while Cat's fingertips fluttered against her. “I’m sorry, everything is still so crazy and-”

“I don't need a hero Kara.”

Kara looked up sharply, that uneasy feeling she'd carried with her all week growing exponentially with Cat's statement.

“I never have.” Cat rubbed her fingers against the flat of Kara's chest, feeling the true warmth of her skin beneath her shirt. “That doesn't mean I haven't wanted one at various times. “ She drew on a deep breath, looking up from her hand back to Kara directly.

“There's a lot we need to talk about, no distractions or pressing responsibilities, just you and me. However, you haven't asked to come in or made any attempt to do so since I opened the door. Which tells me you're not here to stay.”

Kara shifted her weight, running her fingers up and down along Cat's forearm. “There's so much I have to take care of.”

Cat recognized the tone coloring Kara's voice and reached up with her free hand, tipping Kara's chin up to look at her. “I know. Just like I know a part of you wants nothing more than to secret us both away and hide from the world. But you won't, even if I wanted to let you because that wouldn't be you and that wouldn't be me.”

Kara studied the other woman openly, searching through her eyes and the small nuances of her expression with care.

“I'm still going to be right here.” Cat flexed her fingers against Kara's chest to emphasize her point. “Which is exactly where you're going to be.”

Kara took a sobering breath with the gentle pressure of Cat's fingers under her chin. In the next second, she drew Kara forward and down enough to return the kiss Kara had brought with her arrival. Kara's arms fit around her waist, drawing her up until the ground was gone and Cat’s weight rested against Kara's hips and torso.

Cat felt her veins shiver with electricity, arms circling around Kara’s shoulders as a hand wrapped around the back of Kara’s head into the depths of her hair. Kara hummed against the other woman, soaking her in for a few moments longer. She bent down enough to set Cat back on her feet as the other woman nudged their features apart with a soft exhale. Cat’s hands rounded over Kara’s shoulders back to the flat of her chest, fingers flexing against her for added emphasis of her touch.

“You should get going,” Cat said reluctantly as Kara’s hands smoothed across her sides. “Monday’s going to come far earlier than either of us want it to.”

“I know.” Kara acquiesced, letting out another small sigh.

“Not to mention I have meetings all week with legal and mergers scheduled,” Cat said with an edge of a sneer.

Kara smirked, leaning forward enough to press a kiss to Cat’s forehead. “That your way of warning me you’re going to be up late each night?”

Cat sighed as her reply, provoking Kara to chuckle softly.

“Promise me one thing?”

“Just one thing?”

Kara nodded languidly. “Lunch, you, me and Carter? You’ve barely eaten all week with the meetings you already had.”

“Now who’s worrying.”

“Worrying implies being distraught.” Kara lobbed back at her playfully causing Cat to push herself away with a wry laugh.

“I’ll see what I can manage.”

Kara gave her a curt nod with that. “Fair enough.”

Cat let out a deep breath, her fingers finally drifting away from the other woman. “You know where to find me if you find a minute or two.”

Kara’s smirk broadened. “Don’t tempt me, unless there’s breakfast involved.”

Cat gave a hum of a laugh in response, stepping back across the threshold as she held the door. The two lingered where they stood, each taking a moment as if to memorize the other before Kara took a step back and down from the landing.

“Monday.” She spoke the word like a promise to which Cat merely nodded before Kara stepped the rest of the way down and made her way down the sidewalk. Cat watched her until she rounded a corner and slipped out of sight. She closed the door with a solid snick of the latch in its place before she turned the deadbolt.

 

**\-------**

 

Alura paced about slowly, her hands bound behind her loosely as she watched Zor-El bring up all he could concerning this asteroid Cruithne in relation to Earth, as well as her physical self.

“Cruithne is a Q-type, Aten asteroid in orbit around the Sun in one to one orbital resonance with Earth. It appears its discovery was a fluke, wrought undoubtedly from your pod’s disturbance to its structure. It is on its approach towards Earth. It will reach its nearest point of correlation with this planet in the eleventh month. Coming within seven million five hundred miles or thirty times the separation between Earth and its own orbital Moon.”

Alura slowed in her pacing as she calculated his words.

“With Earth’s current technology it would take their fastest manned spacecraft capabilities two and a half years at a constant rate of propulsion to reach Cruithne at its closest point. Currently, there is no propulsion system that could maintain the speed required to reach it. Given the availability of this technology and the planning it would take to calculate that kind of mission, it would be futile.”

“That will not keep her from trying,” Alura stated as she resumed the previous pattern of her pacing.

“This planet is barely into its nuclear phase, providing them with technology to allow them the ability to space travel would be devastating to the surrounding galaxies. Whether Krypton exists or not, the last thing I know I would want was for our technologies to be a reason for a kind of Earth-born cataclysm upon those other systems.”

“I never said she would go that far. I merely meant she will try to negotiate the angles to fit her trajectory Zor.” Alura let out a breath, turning again as she continued her rhythmic strides, glancing at the data he brought up on the console’s display systems.

“What of the pod?”

Zor-El looked over his shoulder at her a moment before turning back to the console and bringing up the schematics of the standard escape pod they had sent Kara and Kal off in.

“Not impossible to reach you, but there are no weapons, excavation, or colonization technologies on board. It is as we intended it, an escape pod. It is programmable and can be navigated from within, but it will do little in the way of aiding you beyond attempting to locate your exact location at close range.”

Alura made a face, bringing a hand to her temples in order to rub at them. It was highly unlikely she had an actual headache but habits were hard to break, conscious or otherwise.

“What about Kara herself?”

With that Zor-El turned completely, giving Alura a look that spoke of his reluctance and cynicism. “She has not reached those lessons yet, though given her affinity for heights I would not be surprised if she has unconsciously trained herself to a point to withstand it.”

“So it is a possibility?”

“It also puts her closer to the yellow sun than she has been before now.”

“Meaning?”

“Without Earth’s atmosphere she will absorb the energy of the yellow sun at a far greater rate, while this would enable her functionality outside that atmosphere she would also be traveling ever closer to the Sun itself to reach you. Her absorption rate and with it, her powers and abilities would increase exponentially, but so would her exposure.”

“Make your point Zor.”

“You are assuming she finds you, frees you and then what? Travels back? Gets into the pod with you? If you have been buried under rock and hidden away you will not have the same invulnerabilities. Your cells and body will need time to process just as Astra’s did when she was finally exposed.” He dispersed into nothing, reforming closer to her as Alura brought her arms to wrap around her torso.

“However, even Astra had an edge. This planet’s geothermal processes permitted some element of solar radiation to reach her in those small moments of exposure from her cell. We have no way of knowing what condition or state you or your pod are in relation to Cruithne itself, aside from the fact that your navigational systems are inoperable. A fact that lends itself to your pod being compromised and essentially embedded within the asteroid itself. You could be on the farthest side with no exposure to the yellow sun, or you could be on the side facing the sun which might allow for some residual radiation to be absorbed indirectly.” He watched her try to calculate a number of things within her mind, expecting nothing less of her even as an AI.

“Even if Kara did travel directly to you, she would have to extract you without compromising herself, your pod, or the asteroid. The solar rays of the yellow sun push the thing enough, with enough force and effort, Kara could send the thing careening into Earth a year or a hundred years from now.”

“What of the other suits we have-”

“Alura, Earth has become reliant on her now. We're she to vacate it, even momentarily the ramifications of those who have begun to surface, those you are responsible for stranding there are too great. You cannot tell her she is not to interfere, then in the same breath try to reason the idea of her doing so.” His matrix shifted for a split second and Alura straightened with the fluctuation.

“Do you wish to tell her or should I?” He questioned.

Alura shook her head waving him away into obscurity leaving her alone as Kara rounded the corner into the chamber.

“You knew I was coming,” Kara stated working her way towards the other woman's manifestation.

“I had an idea,” Alura stated honestly.

“So you are singing and you're close.”

“In a way. As far as singing, I am still unconscious but sound waves traveling through oscillations in the magnetic field surrounding the asteroid's environment are what have been discovered. I admit I am surprised that Earth's scientists detected it, although increasing the frequencies by a factor of about ten thousand will do that I suppose.” Alura studied Kara openly, knowing she was holding her enthusiasm back.

“As for being close, that is a relative term.”

“Relative how?” Kara inched closer, watching her mother's figure as she stayed rooted in place.

“Cruithne is thirty times farther, at its closest point, than Earth's moon.” Alura watched as if someone cut the strings holding Kara's shoulders up and proud.

Kara nodded slowly, with a kind of defeated determination as she crossed her arms firmly across her chest as if to bolster herself further. “That… can be worked around. My pod-”

“Kara.” The two women stared at one another as Alura interjected with an edge to her voice that left no room for Kara to argue.

“Given the steps taken to actually decipher the sound I seem to be making, it is safe to say my pod is heavily embedded within the surface of Cruithne. It would also explain why I have been unable to determine my actual location or trajectory. Either the navigation systems have been damaged or the asteroid itself is obscuring those systems.”

“Like putting a magnet next to a compass,” Kara stated mostly to herself.

Alura nodded stepping over as she touched her daughter's face upon seeing her hands vice around her own arms. “My Little Star.” Alura's voice was on the edge of heartbreak, contained in just as much stoicism as Astra tended towards.

Kara drew a sharp breath inward, forcing her nostrils to flare as she tried to contain the onslaught of emotions burning through her. She had been on the verge of a kind of excitement few could manage to explain, fearful of the outcomes upon diving deeper into the whole of the situation and now she understood why. She should have been elated beyond reason when she first heard her mother's lullaby and yet, somehow despite her hopes, had instead been walking a fine line of trepidation ever since.

The situation Kara and her mother found themselves in now was untenable. Their reunion was close enough, tangible enough to almost seem real but only almost. She closed her eyes, feeling the burn of tears across her skin and the artificial warmth of her mother's touch whisking them away. She kept her arms locked in place, even as Alura wrapped her up and held her tight.

“It's not fair.” She uttered around the viscosity of her emotions as they threatened to throttle her silence. “Even Astra is singing the words in her unconscious-” Kara choked back a sob, feeling her mother's arms tighten further.

“It's the nearest we have been in so long,” Alura said quietly, her own voice breaking. “I'm so sorry Kara.”


	51. We Don't Mean to Hurt Each Other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena tries to come to terms with the information Sharon has brought her and across the country in Metropolis, Diana Prince has a date to keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mucho thanks to ChupeyDupey for the betas cause lord knows where the hell this thing would be at this rate ;)
> 
> ALSO from this point, I'm going to be updating (or attempting to) each week with a new chapter to provide some consistency not only in flow for reading but writing as well. Looking to update each Friday/Saturday 
> 
> ENJOY!

Lena stood in the middle of the kitchen, running over the copies of her father's will and testament Sharon had provided from a thumb drive that Cat had printed as she paced about. Sharon cited that had she brought the originals it was possible they might wind up misplaced or destroyed. Her other aunt hadn't expanded on those possibilities but the implication was enough.

Cat was seated at the table, reading over her own neglected work from the day before while Sharon was seated on the floor inside Carter's space going over each of his dinosaurs with absolute precision. Lena made another pass, leaving a small set of pages she had gone over face down on an ever-growing pile. She exchanged pages for the bottle of wine breathing on the counter, filling her glass once more before resuming her pace.

“You -did- actually place our dinner order, right? Although you do have enough food in that fridge to feed an army if you would have just let me-”

“You've done enough Ronnie.” Cat mused without looking up from her work, scrawling through a layout and adding her changes before flipping it aside before making a face at the small stack of papers her legal department had sent home with her to review. Beside that was another set of contracts from acquisitions.

“It's on its way, proper food takes proper preparation.” She stated in a distracted tone, snagging Lena's wine glass with her next pass expertly without looking up or spilling a drop.

“Aunt Kitty.”

Cat's initial response was her own empty chalice, held out by the stem for her niece to take. “Next time walk around with the bottle.” She looked up over the rim of her glasses before offering a half smile as Lena rolled her eyes.

Lena returned to the counter and filled her new glass to her liking. “Sharon?”

“I'll take a water until food. Then I'll take that glass of wine?”

“Sharptiacus?” Carter's voice pulled a smile from Cat around a sip of her wine while Sharon turned her undivided attention back to him.

“Yes, professor Carter?”

“Thirsty.”

“I know. That's why the water. Is it okay if I have some too?”

“Yesh of course.” He stated moving another smaller set of toys between them.

Lena stepped over, handing Sharon the bottle who thanked her before her attention shifted back to the papers in her hand.

Sharon shifted around so that she was sitting up properly, careful not to unsettle his display. She nabbed a small cup clearly reserved for Carter given its lack of capacity and filled it up.

“Here you go, sir.” She offered him the bottle, keeping the cup for herself.

Carter's hands went around the plastic carefully, even if Sharon didn't let go just yet.

“You got it?”

With the question Cat looked up, pulling her glasses down just enough to see the two of them; clearly already taking a breath to tell Sharon to give him the cup and take the bottle instead.

Carter nodded. “Mama showed me.” He stated confidently, careful to bring the bottle against his chest.

“She did?” Sharon looked over at Cat then giving her a wink.

“Not Momma. Mama, with a haff bottle.” Carter carefully adjusted the bottle, keeping it from tipping over with the nearness of his body. He tipped his head down while lifting the bottle up until the plastic mouth touched his. With an intense, slow purpose he angled the bottle just enough to get a sufficient amount of water for himself without spilling it or choking.

“He means Kara,” Lena explained absently while Cat played coy, looking back to the contract in front of her with more interest.

Carter bent down, bringing the bottle with him as Sharon smiled slowly. “Who's Kara?”

“His nanny”  
“The woman I'm seeing.”

Both Lena and Cat answered respectively, causing Sharon's eyebrows to climb towards her hair as she threw back her water like shot. “Never a dull moment with you is it… Kitten?”

“Don't use that tone,” Cat warned. “She's off limits.” Cat took her glasses off then, tossing them on the contract as she sat back and rubbed a hand through her hair.

“Off limits? You're shitting me?”

Cat glared at the other woman even as she shook her head, starting to say something else only to be interrupted by the knock at the door. “I mean it, Sharon.” Cat's tone left no room for interpretation as she got up and pushed through the swinging door and out of the kitchen.

“What was that about?” Lena asked under her breath as Sharon capped the bottle Carter held after his third sip.

“Time for food professor.” Sharon hauled Carter up off the floor with a squeal, taking him to the sink to wash his hands and her own. “And you have to ask Kit.”

Lena looked up, her back pressed against the counter as she set the rest of the documents in her hands down. “You still haven't explained what it is you do exactly. “

“I told you I'm an insurance investigator and before that, I was in law enforcement.”

“That's what your title is, I have a very distinct feeling there's more to it than that.”

“More to it than what?” Cat asked pushing into the kitchen with two oversized paper bags which she set on the nearest counter space.

“Lena wants to know what it is I do…” Sharon finished, placing Carter in his high chair and strapping him in. “Although I believe she means in regards to you personally, but I won't assume too much.” Sharon's tone was a constant tease. As if she knew some great secret but refused to share.

Cat nudged Lena, asking her to clear the table while she gathered plates from the upper cabinet, setting them aside as she began to unpack the contents of their dinners.

“She finds things.”

“Like lost little girls and their untold fortunes apparently.” Lena's tone was sharp, irritated.

Cat and Sharon shared a look with one another out of her periphery. Cat rose a questioning eyebrow and Sharon replied with a half shrug and a nod before making a grandiose 'go ahead’ gesture. Cat made a face before moving to the next plate.

“Say what's really bothering you, Lena.” Cat suggested as she set up Carter's meal.

Lena carefully placed her aunt's things on the island out of the way, letting out a slow breath. “I can't do anything about what I'm even reading. I barely understand it and not because I’m not trying, but because I can’t read through my own thoughts about it into some kind of comprehension that makes any logical sense.” She ran a hand through her hair, holding its length from her face against the back of her neck, as she turned to look at the two women. Cat moved around the table and Sharon merely stood and watched her.

“I can't go to court or challenge the current status quo of LexCorp or anything. Majority or not.” Lena shook her head at the thoughts that continued to bombard the forefront of her mind into a visual tangibility within her mind’s eye.

“They'll… do far worse than fight it and I can't put anyone, much less myself, through any of it. Even if I sold off my portion they'd find a way to buy them back. They would undoubtedly still follow through with whatever they felt was deserved against me for the slight, or anyone else that helped. That's assuming I could even get that far.”

“Evangelena, it wasn't my intention-”

“I know it wasn't and honestly I wish… I wish you had just left well enough alone Aunt Cat. It was hard enough coming back, knowing what -I- intended and now with everything else involving Supergirl and what Lex and Lillian are really doing... I'm not even sure what they're fully capable of and I don’t want to find out or be a kind of match to their flame of crazy. This just makes it worse.”

“Don’t blame Cat, she cares. I’m the one that brought it to your attention.”

“And if I hadn’t been here you would have just burdened her with it.” Lena let out a rough exhale. “Just put mine in the fridge Cat. I'll eat later. I'm not very hungry, or pleasant company right now.”

“Lena-”

“No. I need to wrap my head around all of this. You said you would support me in whatever I decided. I've decided that I need to be alone and think.”

Cat gave the woman a small nod after a long moment between them while Sharon simply observed. Lena pushed off the island, making her way towards the door.

“Lenateryx?”

Carter's inquisitive voice halted her progress, prompting her to turn back to him. Her heart clenched when he reached for her and not one to keep him waiting she stepped closer. His hands grappled over her as she bent down and despite the awkward angle from being strapped in his high chair, he managed to hug her with a small noise of effort.

“Thanks, little man.” She whispered, hugging him gently before pulling away and making her way out much quicker than before.

Cat let out a slow exhale, placing the lid back on Lena's dinner securely as they all heard the front door shutting a second after.

“You seriously had the restaurant cut his food into stars and dinosaurs?”

Sharon's voice grated on Cat's nerves as she shoved Lena's dinner into the fridge before flinging the door shut with a rattle of noise as she turned to face the other woman.

“That's what you have to say?”

“I can't even get a hamburger cooked right in some places and you manage to-”

“Ronnie.” Cat snagged the bottle of wine and another glass as she made her way to the table. “If I wanted commentary of your culinary exploits versus my own I would have checked the reviews of the Harley's Burger Shack.” She set the bottle down after refilling her own glass, leaving the empty chalice in front of the other woman's meal, as she seated herself beside Carter.

“Don't be rude., I'm simply marveling at how far reaching your kingdom is. I thought it was just an exaggeration-”

“I own the restaurant.” Cat stated nonplussed, helping Carter with his plastic dinnerware until her told her he could do it.

“Still proving my point,” Sharon said, filling her glass before slipping into her seat opposite Cat and drawing her plate closer like a well-choreographed dance. She forked a mixture of her sides all in the same motion, before consuming the overzealous serving.

“You eat like a vagrant. A classy vagrant, but a vagrant nonetheless.” Cat observed, still cutting up her meal.

“I typically live off of vending machines.” Sharon started in on another helping, having spoken around her food.

“Chew your food, savor it, unless you're in a rush.”

“I'm getting a rush from this thank you.”

Cat rolled her eyes, setting up her own bite. “You really have nothing to say on the matter?”

Sharon looked up at the other woman, swallowing her next bite heartily before cleansing her palate with another sip of wine.

“What do you want me to say Kit? I've been sitting on the entirety of her father's information for as long as she's been alive. Or did you forget the part where I worked for the man as his head of security? I knew more about him than even he did.”

“And yet,” Cat argued with a pointed tone.

“He was no saint, none of them are, even you aren't. At least you're charitable and you have a heart and some semblance of morality.” Sharon savored another bite, allowing her words to marinate between them. “I swore I'd never let another person make a fool out of me, even if Lionel claimed he did it for all the right reasons. Which,” she pointed her fork at Cat, “Transferring his holdings into Lena's possession even at three years old -was- for the right reasons. Given how Alexander and Lillian have turned out, you can't sit there and tell me that isn't the truth.”

“It doesn't do any good like this.”

“Because you would have been a better deliverer of it to her?”

“You were the one that stated you wouldn't have shown up if you knew she was here.  
So which is it? Leave it with me, or track her down and give her that information alone?”

“I took it as an opportunity. World works really funny that way sometimes. This just happened to be one of them. If she hadn't been here, I wouldn't have told either of you. You and I would've caught up, probably at the museum so I could show you why I'm actually in this city. Maybe I would have left you with the suggestion of something deeper concerning Lena. That would have been the end of it. The second I saw you both, I made a choice. One I still stand by. She's stronger than she looks so get off my back Kit.”

“I know how strong she is Ronnie. I’ve been witness to it every day since she showed up at my doorstep. Mine, not yours.”

“Don't. Don't play that game with me. It's petty and frankly something Lillian might argue.”

Cat cut her eyes up dangerously while Sharon held her gaze without falter. “When you stop blaming yourself for his death, I'll stop pointing out how the way that you work only works for you.”

Sharon shifted her jaw visibly before dropping her gaze with a small nod. She stood in the next second, making her way to Carter and placing a small kiss on the top of his forehead. “Take care of your Mom kiddo.”

“Sharon-”

“Thanks for the food Kit.”

“Sharon wait.”

“I have appointments to keep,” Sharon stated as Cat followed her into the living room, remaining at the juncture of the kitchen, no doubt for Carter's sake, while Sharon moved towards the front door. “If Lena's not back in an hour call me.” She shrugged on her jacket and opened the door. “I'll see you around… no need to worry about Lena. She's walking up now.” Before Cat could stop her Sharon was already shutting the door.

**\-------**

Lois sat alone at her table, checking her watch as the hour crept closer to nine and a waiter refilled her glass of water. She fingered her earring with a small thank you, looking around the restaurant again and the surrounding patrons. A part of her worried that perhaps this particular meeting place wasn't the smartest thing after that press conference. The world knew who Diana Prince was now, co-director of this new extranormal organization. Had Lois not already known that Diana herself was one of them, she might have openly questioned it after today, even if in jest.

The public, however, might not be so amused or easily assuaged. It was an easy conclusion to come to. At least one could assume that the director of National City branch would be human, what with Supergirl claiming National City as her home. There was no reasoning behind Diana being the director in Metropolis alone. Unless there was another hero no one knew about that called the city their home, or if that extranormal might indeed be Diana herself. There might be a possibility that one could convince the public that Supergirl would be helping both locations and directors equally, but even Lois knew better.

It would only be a matter of time before the questions started, sooner rather than later, should Supergirl indeed prove more involved on the opposite coast. Before she could delve too much further into a single reporters opinion versus the general public’s, the ambient noise descended to a quiet hum. Lois looked around only to find most people's attention directed behind her and followed suit feeling her breath catch.

Diana strode through the restaurant, the picture of statuesque elegance. Her dress was simple, with a classical elegance befitting a goddess of a time forgotten. Her hair was down in a wave of natural curls and her stride purposeful as she wove her way through the seated mass towards Lois’ table.

Without prompt Lois stood, drawing a knowing smile to Diana's mouth as she continued onward, despite the gawking, until she was standing right in front of the other woman.

“Sorry, I'm late.” She leaned down, placing a tender kiss on the corner of Lois’ mouth before straightening.

“You're here. That's what matters.” Lois said with a breathless edge. “Was your flight-”

“I'm not here to talk about business. That's for later, just for you whenever Lois Lane, Daily Planet reporter wants to pencil that in. Right now, it's just us.”

There was a slight question to the end of her statement that Lois hadn't expected. “O-okay..” she gestured absently to the seat across from her and made to retake her own.

Diana eased Lois’ chair forward gently before rounding the table as the waiter came over.

“White wine for me please,” Diana responded as the waiter looked towards Lois

“Red.” The man nodded and stepped away.

“I saw the press conference.”

Diana rose a brow tipping her head curiously. “I thought we weren't-”

“We're not. I'm just commenting. Made me wish I had stayed, if for no other reason than to watch you in person.”

“It’s not as exciting as it looks I can assure you.”

The waiter returned with their drinks, offering menus with quiet thank yous from both women.

“It’s not about exciting,” Lois stated once the waiter stepped away again. “It’s about supporting the things you do, especially when they’re important to you.”

Diana set her menu flat on the table, taking note that Lois had yet to even look over her own.

With the menu’s down the waiter took it as a signal to come back to the table only to have Lois turn to him directly.

“I know.. I’ve kept this table and you for longer than the usual person might, but if you could just wait until I tell you to come back I swear I’ll make up for it okay?” Lois’ tone was as tall as she was in comparison to the woman across from her. The waiter looked between the two women, taking note of Diana’s apologetic expression and Lois’ more than insistent one before nodding and stepping away.

“Lois?”

“I'm fine, I just-”

“Seem to be having some issues with the staff doing their job. If you need more time or-”

“No. I've had time, I've filled a lifetime in a week and yes I have issues. We have issues. You're a princess from a society of Amazon warriors and I'm a military brat, which ironically when you break it down I can actually handle. A woman from a family of warriors in love with a warrior. It's cliche, practically predictable. Soldier’s daughter ends up with a soldier or a rebel, and I've been there and done the latter and I also know just how lucky I am to have you.” Lois made a string of noises to keep Diana from interrupting as the other woman made to do so.

“Please don't stop me.” Lois tucked her lips inward, biting down on them as her finger fidgeted within her lap. “I am completely... completely in love with you Diana. Even the things about you that drive me insane. I love you because you make me feel like I don't have to be anything or anyone other than who I am and to me, that feels like possibility. You make everything feel possible. Regardless of what you told me about who you really are, that… that just makes it all the more incredible.”

Diana studied Lois carefully, watching her joined hands settle between them on the table.

“After everything you explained, everything I saw today, the things I’ve witnessed already not involving either of us are all pretty damn good indicators of what to expect. I should be terrified, of so many things...”

Lois let the ring in her fingers settle on the table between them. The band was wide, like the kind one might find around a cigar. With hammered textures softened by ornate oxidized filigree and a thin ring of gold along the outside that moved independently. Diana straightened in her seat, lips parting involuntarily as she watched Lois turn the object around between them before finally curling her fingers away and back down into her lap.

“But I'm not, save for one thing. Diana, I love you and no matter how I think about it, I can't think about not loving you. You don’t have to say anything now or any time just think about it, for a day, a year, forever…”

 

 


	52. Storms Don't Last Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still reeling from everything Kara has learned over the weekend, she forgets her standing lunch date with Cat who comes to remedy the situation. Until Cat is faced with a whole different kind of threat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to ChupeyDupey for the betas as always and AstraDanvers for some plot thot ;)
> 
>  Again, new chapters will drop every Friday/Saturday from here on out
> 
> Random musical inclinations for this chapter:  
> [What is Love - Cover by Jaymes Young](http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=IRHYazTx8uY) reminds me of Queen's - Who Wants to Live Forever..

Monday arrived just as rough and hard as Cat had expected it to. Despite the day in between, Lena was still quiet and withdrawn. Even this morning she had stated she was going to stay in and maybe take in parts of the city again while she continued to process all the information Sharon had brought her.

That Cat had expected, what she hadn’t expected was the similar state Kara seemed to be in once they had arrived at CatCo with Carter in tow. Cat had gotten Carter prepped and ready as usual. She decided her non-productive weekend warranted an early start at the office and had opted she be dropped off at work before sending Austin to fetch Kara.

Cat watched the woman drop off her coffee with her assistant Karen instead of delivering it herself. That, coupled with Kara secreting herself away in her office with Carter for a good portion of the morning save for one other instance where she merely seemed to head to the restrooms before disappearing again had Cat wondering if something was in the water.

She glanced at the clock, noting that it was nearly half an hour from when they would typically have had lunch in the past with no sign of the other woman. Cat stood after another five minutes had passed, looking to the screens along her wall as if verifying that there wasn’t some kind of crisis that required Supergirl’s attention and she was not actually in the office across the way.

Finding nothing of merit she turned her gaze back to the office just off of her own, eyes narrowing slightly.

“Kasey!”

Her bosses bark pulled the assistant’s attention, and within a few ungraceful movements Karen stepped just inside the office with an inquisitive expression.

“Has lunch been ordered?”

“N-no Miss Grant.”

“Not at all?”

Karen shook her head before Cat waved her away with a single backhanded motion. The assistant frowned in confusion then merely stepped back and moved around to her desk again, wondering if she should go ahead and order something, or just continue with her work.

Cat looked across the bullpen again, catching the slightest movement just inside Kara’s office before she set her jaw. She slid open the middle drawer of her desk, grabbing her clutch of a wallet from the depths of her purse and her phone before moving around the desk and out.

“Call the car and push the rest of the day back an hour.” Were her only passing words, sending Karen into a frenzy of action as the drum of her heels reverberated across the floor.

Kara had already turned to face her just before Cat pushed through the door, arms crossed over her chest. Cat didn’t bother with any kind of pleasantries, grabbing Kara by the forearm as she pulled her aside and out of view of the doors and anyone beyond it. Kara started to protest, only managing to get the other woman’s name out before her words were silenced with the tender pressure of Cat’s mouth.

Cat tossed her things into the nearest chair, hands caressing the side of Kara’s features. She continued to pull Kara along until the wall pressed against Cat’s back. At first, Kara could only respond with surprise, even with the first touches of Cat’s fingers against her skin. She bent forward with the pull of the other woman’s weight until she felt the vibration of Cat’s body colliding with the wall.

Kara’s eyes closed as she allowed herself to sink into the other woman, arms uncrossing as her hands found the curves of Cat’s waist. Fingers flexed against Cat’s sides, ushering her hips back and into the wall before Kara invaded her space completely and pressed the other woman fully into the unforgiving surface.

Cat felt the worst of the tension in Kara’s body ease along with the barest hint of Carter’s voice on her periphery before Kara broke away from her breathlessly. Cat ran the back of her knuckles across the side of Kara’s cheek as they parted, the pair of them searching the other out for another second.

“What’s wrong?”

Kara let out a huff of a breath, shaking her head slightly only to pull back from Cat completely. Her hands fell away followed by her body, leaving Cat’s touch to barely reach her cheek just as the door to the office opened.

“Miss Grant, I...oh.” Karen stammered slightly as she found the two women.

Cat looked from her assistant back to Kara, eyes narrowing faintly as she stepped into the space Kara had made between them. Taking the other woman’s arm with her around her waist as she turned enough to set her back against Kara’s chest while Karen tried to remain impassive at the display in front of her.

“Your car’s here.” She said simply. “Your meetings have been pushed back as you requested and Miss Lena returned your earlier phone call. She’s at the art museum.”

“Good enough. Go call the elevator.” Cat stated, already reaching over to grab her discarded things from the nearby chair, one hand still holding on to Kara’s. Karen nodded before slipping back out, veering off and out of sight.

Cat turned within Kara's loose grasp, setting a hand against the flat of her chest. She felt the heavier weight of Kara's exhale dissipate along with whatever protest she had begun to build between them.

“Get your things, and his. You're no good to me here.”

“I’m just having an off day and-”

“You need to let me take us all to lunch, just like you asked. Then you need to go home and stay there. Otherwise, I'm going to end up working in here which will dissolve into not working at all because I know you need me. How? I'm not even sure but I know that you do as sure as I know how to breathe.” Cat rubbed small tight circles against Kara's sternum. “I'm not sending you away, I'm giving you room to breathe, understand?”

Kara nodded her expression a conflict of gratitude and apology.

There was a small knock on the glass and Kara reluctantly moved to gather Carter's bag along with her own while Cat tended to her son. Without so much as a look towards others trying to pretend not to observe the trio, Kara tuned her hearing to focus solely on Cat's heartbeat. Unsure if she could handle any murmur or whispered comment towards herself or especially Cat, much less anything concerning the two of them.

Cat lingered with every step, making sure she and Kara were as close to equal in stride as she could manage, setting Carter on her hip between them. Karen continued to hold the elevator until the trio we tucked into it.

Kara let out a slow breath as they descended, leaving the bulk of would-be noise concerning the three of them behind. Carter leaned over, trading one woman for the other as Cat relieved Kara of his bag.

“Where's we going?”

“I dunno buddy. It's a surprise from your Momma.”

His head turned back to Cat who smiled gently at him.

“Food then you're gonna spend the day with Mama.” Cat looked over at the other woman who stiffened at the moniker before her eyes turned glassy and she averted her gaze.

Carter grinned though given the tension in the small space, remained calm despite the clear driving want to flail or bounce about. He wrapped his arms around Kara's neck, dropping his head to tuck it beneath Kara's chin. Kara for her part swallowed thickly, her hold on Carter's body shifting to the security of one arm. Cat's fingers sought out Kara's own, curling around the other woman's and refusing to release them even as the elevator doors opened.

Cat tugged on her gently, spurring Kara to move as she navigated them through the lobby, fingers tangled around their hips between the two of them as Austin met them at the executive door. He dutifully ushered them into the car, helping secure Carter before closing both women inside the vehicle on either side.

Cat gave her instructions, causing Kara to stare at her when she gave the address to her apartment. “Lunch should arrive at the same time as we do.”

“What if I need to-”

“I'll handle it. Just let me know.”

“Cat…”

“Kara. Let me do this for you. Something is wrong. Whatever it is, you can tell me but only if you want to tell me. Okay? If not, that’s okay too. Let me do this for you, after everything you do for me, for everyone else. Please.”

Kara looked over at the woman directly, drawing in a sobering breath before nodding with a small series of nods.

“Okay,” Cat stated with a finalizing tone.

"Otay,” Carter emphasized pulling a half smile from Kara.

The rest of the ride there was quiet and uneventful, save for a few texts Cat sent off to her assistant and Lena before they pulled up to the apartment building that Kara hardly seemed to recognize any longer. Sure enough, the delivery boy was waiting for them and while Cat took care of him, Kara made her way upstairs with Carter.

As she stepped into her apartment it became that much more apparent how little time anyone was spending within its confines. Alex had basically resigned herself to the DEO with Astra, the hospital was closer than from their apartment. Winn was in the same boat, especially after Hank had given him his own residential apartment given how much Winn was actually working there.

Kara set Carter into the highchair she had bought around Christmas before moving into the depths of the apartment., She opened up the curtains and watched the striations of dust and particles float through the air from the action. Cat stepped inside shortly after, taking note of the less than lived-in surroundings, but kept any comments about it to herself.

She set the bags on the counter keeping tabs on Kara as she meandered through the main room of the apartment in order to make it seem more inhabitable. After turning on a few lights and lighting a candle, Kara sat down at the island, idly running her fingers through Carter's hair. Cat set their food out along with a bottle of water for Kara and one a third the size in front of Carter. Cat remained on the opposite side, not bothering with plates or silverware beyond what was provided.

Kara removed the cap from Carter's bottle, taking a small sip to lower the water level before helping him with his fork. Cat watched as her son took a sip all his own, a rarity considering someone other than his mother was sharing with him. The corner of her mouth lifted behind a bite of her meal as the two worked in tandem with one another without a single word between them.

The three of them tucked into their meals allowing the quiet comfort of each other to surround them. After a short while, Kara nudged her container aside, moving to Carter and hoisting him out of the highchair. With quiet tones, she singsonged him to the sink. Cat could tell the depth of her heart wasn’t quite in it. Together they washed their hands before Kara set him on the counter beside the sink and supervised the cleaning of his face.

Cat straightened away, turning to watch the two of them before stepping closer. Where her heels might not have announced her presence loudly enough, the hands she placed at Kara’s waist did. Carter’s reaction to Kara’s expression was evidence enough even if Cat couldn’t see the other woman.

Kara straightened slightly, her hands still resting protectively around Carter’s sides to secure his place on the counter. She felt Cat’s hands smooth around her body, flattening around her torso before passing each other until the woman’s arms surrounded her completely. The lithe frame of Cat’s body pressed against her back, she felt the barest of kisses skimming the nape of her neck near her hairline before Cat’s forehead pressed against it.

Cat’s arms flexed tightly, hugging the other woman with all her strength even as she felt Kara move. She felt Carter’s body slide against the outside of her forearms as she stepped back in unison with the woman in her arms. Cat heard the hum of Kara’s voice instructing Carter to go find his toys before she saw him dash from the kitchen toward his bag on the floor nearby.

Kara pressed a hand against the lines of Cat’s arms around her, turning her head to the side to try and find her near her shoulder while watching Carter at the same time.

“I know you can’t stay,” Kara said quietly, causing Cat’s arms to tighten around her once more. “Nor did I mean to bring the day down or forget-”

“It’s ok,” Cat said against her neck, relaxing her hold enough to allow Kara to follow it around until they were facing one another.

Kara brought her hands up to Cat’s features, holding her still long enough to search through her eyes before drawing her in and kissing her reverently. Cat kissed the other woman back with a throaty sigh. She wanted nothing more than to get lost in the languid caresses and the comforting company of the other woman, regardless of whether or not they discussed what was bothering Kara.

Cat tugged on Kara’s bottom lip with the tender vice of her teeth only to be pulled closer, noses brushing as Kara deepened the kiss with a slow, exploratory roll of her tongue. Cat sucked in a sharp breath through her nose, feeling the tormentous swell of emotions that weren’t her own invading her.

Kara seemed to come back to herself with the sound, tipping her head back with an apologetic nibble of Cat’s lips before breaking away from her completely. “We’ll talk when you come to pick him up if it’s not too late. I know you’re busy all this week.”

Cat shook her head gently, reaching up to touch Kara’s lips with her fingers, tracing their delicate contours. “It won’t be and only if you feel up to it. If you need anything, even just the sound of my voice for whatever reason, call. I can’t promise I’ll answer, but my voicemail can serve as a willing substitute.”

Kara actually smiled, drawing a deep breath into her lungs before letting her touch drift away. “I will. Get going, Austin’s still waiting and I know you only had an hour.”

Cat pressed her hand against the flat of Kara’s chest, flexing her fingers firmly as the two stared at one another before she gave a final press and stepped away. Carter was on her in the next second, hugging her tightly as she bent down to him.

“Keep an eye on that one.” She tasked, kissing his forehead before straightening once he promised that he would. Cat sent another look Kara’s way, mouthing ‘I love you’ over Carter’s exuberant requests that he was sending Kara’s way from the level of her knees.

Kara smiled genuinely, nodding to Cat with her own ‘love you too’ before the woman slipped out of the apartment. Her attention lowered properly to the boy tugging on her, her smile growing as she let him take her hand and pull her around the island and into the fuller expanse of the living room. She listened absently as Cat made her way down the multiple flights of stairs while Carter laid out his plans for the evening with the extravagance only a three-year-old could muster.

Cat stopped just shy of getting into the sedan at the curb of Kara’s apartment building, looking up towards the windows she knew belonged to the other woman, sending a quiet prayer to anyone who would listen to make today a quiet day as far as Supergirl requirements might warrant.

After another moment she slipped into the waiting vehicle as Austin closed the door behind her and made his way around to driver’s side.

“Anything you need me to do, Cat?” Austin’s voice lifted the woman’s eyes to the mirror as the pair looked at one another with an unspoken understanding.

“Need is a relative term,” Cat responded before glancing towards the window and the passing city as they headed back into the heart of it towards CatCo. “Keep watch. I’ll be leaving the office by six if that helps any.”

“Understood.”

The rest of the drive was silent, save for the minute clicking against the screen of Cat’s phone as she sent off a round of text messages out. Once they arrived Austin was surprised at the sight of Karen pushing through the executive entrance, intent on waiting just inside the columns of the building just beyond the sidewalk.

“Someone may have started a fire in your absence,” Austin warned as he got out of the car and made his way around in order to let Cat out.

With his words, she looked towards her building. A single eyebrow rose sharply towards her hairline as she stepped onto the pavement and stalked towards her assistant.

Wordlessly Karen moved back, already opening the door for her boss and heading towards her personal elevator. For anyone looking on, it almost appeared as if Cat was hunting the other woman down until one realized Karen was actually trying to carve a path _for_ the other woman.

“What is it?” Cat’s tone made Karen flinch and when the woman was certain her body was blocking the cameras, she passed Cat the envelope she had been hiding under her sweater.

“This came for you. I would suggest looking it over in the elevator Miss Grant.” She barely got the words out before the doors closed, leaving her boss holding the nondescript item as she turned and ran for the standard elevator banks.

Cat turned the envelope over, taking note of where Karen had handled it and opened the seal. Despite its clear vetting the method of delivery was less than savory, especially given all that was already in contention for her utmost attention. She felt the bulk of the envelope, only now pushing the button for her floor.

As the elevator moved she lifted the edge, edging her fingers inside enough to widen the envelope and tip the contents into view. She recognized the location immediately, feeling her blood pressure rise and her heart race. Thankfully the angle was too sharp for a direct line of sight but the existence of the images themselves was as infuriating as it was frightening.

Supergirl's suit was unmistakable. Even if her unmasked features were obscured by their angle, the fact that this individual had managed the photos regardless made her spine grow cold as she fingered through the snapshot progression of when Cat had pressed her against the door frame of her bedroom.

The photos changed to her and Kara outside her house from the zoomed-in perspective of the sidewall from two days ago. The two of them were easily identifiable as she flipped through the progression of their kiss when Kara picked her up from the ground. She came upon the last photo, scrutinizing the words written over it.

By the time the elevator opened everything was tucked back into place and her expression was impassive. Karen stood just inside her office waiting diligently, trying not to appear as winded as she actually was with having beaten her boss to the office floor by some sheer stroke of luck.

As Cat passed her, Karen swore if Cat’s eyes could flare up with the fire of a thousand suns, the likes of which she had only ever seen by means of Supergirl, Cat would have incinerated her entire office.

“Shut the doors. Balcony. Now.” Cat continued through her office, tossing her things on her desk before snagging a portfolio from its surface. In a single motion, she stepped outside, stopping only steps from the barricade along the edge of her balcony. She waited for Karen while the woman completed her tasks.

“Listen very carefully.” Cat’s voice was dangerous, sharp and merciless the moment she detected her assistant behind her. “You will not write this down and I will only say it once. After which, the implications of this conversation never happened. You’re merely running an errand.”

“Yes, Miss Grant.”

“You're going to go the art museum in my car. I want a showcase piece for the executive boardroom. Ask for their director Sara Lorcan. Make sure to request her independent insurance investigator be present. Provide her the criteria I’ve specified for the piece I'm looking for within this.” Cat offered her the portfolio as an afterthought without even looking at the other woman and Karen took the offered object without hesitation.

“Explain everything you know and what I’ve outlined within that. Answer their questions thoroughly, so that they have all they could possibly need to fulfill my request.” Cat ran her hands over her hips, wrapping her fingers back towards her spine as she looked out over the city.

“For what it's worth...”

Cat glared over her shoulder at the other woman, not having asked for her opinion.

Karen swallowed visibly, hugging the portfolio to herself. “I think you have impeccable taste with the two options you've been considering. Either one would be lucky to have your attention.” Karen tightened her hold on the edges of the portfolio already backing up as Cat began to turn. “If you were to choose both, I'd say that's your prerogative and the rest of us should just deal with it…”

“Neither of us have all day.” Cat eyed the woman with a slight narrowing of her gaze before lifting her chin. Her assistant nodded in a disjointed manner before backing up further in order to make her way out.

“For what it’s worth.”

Karen nearly ran into the door when she heard Cat repeat her words back to her. She stopped, hand on the door lock as she chanced a look back at her boss.

“Thank you, Karen.”

The woman gave Cat a tight smile, coupled with an expression of empathy and a determined nod before she unlocked the office and made her way out. Cat studied her carefully, keeping those just outside her assistant’s sphere within her periphery to gauge their responses as the woman gathered her things, never once relinquishing her grip from the portfolio Cat had handed her.

Cat stared past her into the depths of the bullpen, as her assistant crossed the line of the doors once more, searching for anyone with a sudden interest in the woman’s activities. Finding none she edged behind her desk, snagging her phone and sending a text to Austin with his own instructions before scrolling through her contacts and tapping her screen roughly.

She nudged her chair back and out of the way, glancing towards the monitors along her wall to ensure there was nothing going on in the world that would warrant a call from Kara as she paced.

“Jack.” Cat’s voice was syrupy sweet, even if she could drive her designer heels through the floor as she paced. “I know I've caught you close to the end of your day but I was hoping you could do me a favor.” Cat listened intently, casting another glance out to the main floor while prowling about.

“It's about that letter you drew up for me.” Cat listened as the man's tone shifted, knowing he understood her rather clandestine turn of phrase.

“Yes, no-no. I'm fine, everything is alright. I just was curious if we could go over a few more details before it's completed. Yes, it's been approved...along with the addendum.” Cat scanned the air as if reading the contract she was referring to.

“Thursday would be fine, my tab. Thank you.” She ended the call with a flick of her thumb, gathering a set of folders from her desk as she moved around her desk and made her way to her next meeting before she was too late for it to be considered fashionable.


	53. Talk Enough Sense You'll Lose Your Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat has a proposal for Kara and proves that certain moments they've shared as a make-shift family are not to be confined to Cat's home alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to ChupeyDupey for the beta!!!
> 
> [ This is a constant soundtrack apparently that I listen to when writing this ridiculously long story... ](http://www.youtubeonrepeat.com/watch/?v=Qh1GZUff6kw&t=1705s)
> 
> Also thanks to @findoutwhatIlove on Tumblr for making the wonderful request to post earlier if possible. So on that note should I have it available to do 2 chapters a week I will attempt to meet that deadline on Wednesday/Thursday but expect updates with absolute certainty on Friday/Saturday unless otherwise mentioned ;) 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's reading!

Kara stretched carefully along the couch, turning her ankles around a bit before she relaxed completely. Her arms were held in close to her sides, one hand moving back and forth all on its own as she gazed at the dying light in the sky. She pulled in a slow breath, barely registering Carter's weight where he was asleep across her torso. She continued to trace the fine line of his backbone while her mind idly wondered if her mother had ever done the same. As much as she tried to recall the memory, the clarity of it still seemed evasive and fleeting.

She tipped her head down a bit, looking at the mop of hair belonging to the little boy, before leaning forward enough to place a soft kiss against his crown. She eased both arms around him, careful not to wake him as she hugged him to her, her mind instantly recalling how Cat had called her mama.

It was one of the many things they needed to talk about before any of this, be it her relationship with Cat and her son or everything that was required of her as Supergirl, continued further.  She drew in a deep breath, filling her senses with that whole new person kind of smell that permeated anything still considered to be somewhat of a baby.

That alone was a rather involved thing to consider, the willing acceptance of becoming a parent to someone else’s child.  There were elements of it with her job as his nanny, which she certainly had been blurring before even this point. Skirting a line and stepping across it were two entirely different things, with a multitude of consequences both good and bad for either argument.

A part of her had even considered calling Lois just to talk, before realizing the situation, while it might appear similar was anything but by comparison.  Lois, Adam and Cat’s history was a tangled one. The little she had discovered about their relationship clarified how different her current situation with Cat and Carter was from Lois’ relationship with Cat.

Which wasn’t to say they hadn’t loved each other, but anyone can find a love in another person no matter the circumstances.  Cat hadn’t been ready to be a mother or someone’s wife at that point in her life. Her family had, by all accounts, been an equally horrible obstacle but still hadn’t compared to Cat herself.  The testament to that was easily discerned given which woman had ended up with Adam by the end of it.

On that train of thought, Kara wasn’t even sure she was ready for the full brunt of those kinds of expectations.  She loved both Carter and Cat, to her detriment. Her own career choice, if one could even call it that, was far more demanding and dangerous each and every time she put on the suit.  However, it wasn’t as if she were collecting a paycheck for it, nor would she honestly want to. Her money had come from Cat, and prior jobs certainly, but as it stood that’s where she was. Her love for Carter had started early, being the caretaker of a tiny human could do that to anyone, and then there was her love for Cat.

Her attraction to the other woman had been quicker than she cared to admit and had things progressed differently her current self-introspection might not be as all-encompassing as it was now.  Cat was a part of her, and not just figuratively. She could sense the woman at the oddest times as if there were parts of herself entangled with the other woman’s very life that bound them together outside the Touch of Life.  

Her mother had warned her of that when she had asked, having given Jor-El and Lara as a prime example.  Alura had told her there were times when neither she nor the council could determine if they were even two separate entities at times due to their connection. The greater purpose of the Touch of Life had been genetically filtered out of Kryptonian’s as a whole and yet, Jor-El and Lara’s connection was beyond apparent.  It was emotionally intimate and outright virile and shouldn’t have been as strong as it was without some element of manipulation.

Alura had mentioned her connection to Astra was not dissimilar, without the life bond element to it of course.  Initially, they had likened it to having been twins. A glitch in the birthing matrix that spawned two individuals in a single chamber.  A glitch that was merely strengthened by Astra and Alura constantly connecting to one another through their life touch. People had overlooked it, until her aunt and uncle. Add one of the first and only natural born Kryptonian’s in half an Age to the mix and it would have been beyond scandalous bordering on treasonous.  Of course, by that time her planet had been in such turmoil, the idea of a Kryptonian with ancient genetics manifesting beyond what was thought possible was nothing more than finding out the sky was orange.

Kara let out a deep breath, searching the ceiling above her as she contemplated a thousand things all at once.  She kept circling back on the knowledge that even if she and Cat didn’t work out in the long run, they would always be a part of one another. Just like she knew, but had yet to fully admit to herself, that she and Carter were also a part of one another.  Each bond was different, unique and independent from the other, save for the core of either connection originating from Kara.

Keeping an arm around Carter she set her other hand against her face, rubbing at her features roughly.  the more Kara thought about it, the more she came to realize they had been playing family for weeks. She herself had been Carter’s other parental figure nearly from the start. Kara wondered how they had managed to do all of this in a reverse kind of order.

Supergirl was the larger factor in all of this. Not her relationship with Cat and what it could or couldn’t be, nor her ever-present nature that served Carter as well as any parent could want for a child. It was the stark reality that her donning the cape endangered the viability of a future for either aspect. Ironically the danger to her future happiness with Cat and Carter originated from the very thing she had turned her back on, for similar reasons, years prior.

Coupled with the truth that unlike before, she had no intention of giving up her mantel now or in the future.

Cat stood just outside the door in the hallway of Kara's apartment building. Running a hand over the gentle weight she felt against her chest. She drew in a settling breath in an attempt to tamp down on the bubbling wave of nausea that had crept up on her after her second meeting this afternoon. With another breath she curled her hand around the door handle, knowing innately that it wasn’t locked.

When the door gave way she stepped inside, looking around expectantly, before seeing the barest hint of Kara's hair over the arm of the nearby couch.

“Are you awake?” She knew Kara could hear her even if she had whispered it. A second after, she saw Kara's hand over the back of the couch beckoning her closer.

“I know you're invulnerable but you should think about locking the door.” Cat crossed the room on the staccato echo of her heels.  She leaned over the edge once she was close enough only to feel her heart melt at the sight of Carter splayed out across Kara's torso. “Oh…”

Kara looked up at Cat easily, gaze running over the multitude of straps lining Cat's shoulders and the shift in her weight as if she were carrying even more that Kara couldn't see yet.  Before she could ask, Cat had her phone positioned just so before tapping the screen.

Cat winked at the other woman before stepping back. She stepped over to the kitchen, setting bags on the counter beside the refrigerator before divesting herself of her purse, dropping another larger bag to the floor against the island.  She shrugged her jacket off, catching it in her grip before wrapping it around the nearest chair. She opened Kara's fridge, moving the few scant things aside before placing the contents of the bags beside her into it.

“Momma!” Carter's sleep laden voice pulled her attention just as his little feet pounded out a rhythm towards her.

“Hello, my prince.” Cat swept him up, using his own momentum to carry him around.

Kara watched the pair, finding a new appreciation for the hidden strength the other woman carried as she swung her son up and around onto her hip in four-inch heels without struggle.   

Cat kissed him on the cheek, ruffling his hair a bit.  “Did you have fun today?”

Carter nodded grinning around a yawn. “Lots of ventures.”

“Good. I want to hear all about them.”

“What's this.” Kara nudged the bag against the island with her foot, causing both Grant's to look down at it.

“That, is a proposal.”

Kara's eyebrow rose towards her hairline and where she normally would have quipped something along the lines of ‘ _a proposal so soon?_ ’ she instead kept her mouth shut.

“I bought things for dinner, which I'll get started here in a minute.”

“You? Get started on dinner?”

Cat mirrored Kara's earlier expression. “You thought because you've been making all the meals up to now that what? I didn't know how to cook?”

“That would mean I had assumed something about you, which is a very dangerous thing… good or bad.” Kara ran her hand through her hair, watching Cat’s expression shift curiously. “Still doesn't explain the bag.”

“What would either of you think if we stayed here tonight?  Although because this is Kara's place she has the final say.” Cat knew she was imposing but the instant she had left Kara's apartment at lunch the more the idea had nagged at her. Cat nudged Carter's temple. “No matter what, we're good either way right my prince?”

The was a split second of indecision written on Carter's face before he drew in a purposeful breath and nodded firmly. “Wite.”

Kara already had a hand wrapped around the lower half of her face, eyeing the pair as they looked at her. Carter with far more hope than his mother was openly expressing. If Cat's emotions were anything to go on, the levels of hopefulness were flipped almost entirely.

“I'll have to set up a few things…” Kara rubbed the back of her neck, running over scenarios in her mind concerning sleeping arrangements. “Let Alex know.”

“If it's too much for the both of you, it's alright. I know she works so hard-”

“I meant for not going to see her tonight. She hasn't come back here since…”

Cat nodded as Kara's voice trailed off, realizing she was referencing the CatCo launch party.

“Whatever you need Kara.” She stepped closer. “Even if that means we don't stay. I don't want to take you away from what's important to you.”

“You're important to me, both of you are and we can't keep putting each other off while everything else around us continues or we'll get left behind. I don't want that.”

Cat nodded.

“We stay?” Carter asked quietly, looking between both of them.

Kara cracked a smile then, giving a nod. “You stay.” She looked up at Cat, “you both stay.”

“Yaaaaaay!”

Cat winced slightly with Carter's exuberance, setting him back down. “We have to be a little quieter here my prince. This isn't like home, there are people all around us.”

Carter 'oop-ed’ putting his hands over his mouth once he was down, looking up at Kara before apologizing behind his hands causing her to grin while Cat chuckled.

“It's ok buddy.” Kara ran her fingers through his hair gently, watching him hum with a laugh. “Think you can pick up your toys? Then you can help me with some other things ok?”

He nodded before taking off, hands still clamped over his mouth until he reached the first small pile of toys he had scattered about the main room of the apartment.

“What about Lena?”

“She needs some time alone, to think about a few things. She's not exactly enthusiastic about being around me right now, which is understandable. She has the address in case she needs to get here for some reason, though I doubt she will.” Cat sighed gently at that, it wasn't as if she and Lena weren't talking but her niece wasn't exactly making the effort she had been previously.

Cat didn’t fault her for any of her behavior; in fact, she hoped the space and time would give Lena a clearer path towards whatever it was she was navigating herself through.  Cat also had a gut feeling that when Lena was really ready and open to discussing everything that had fallen into her lap, she wouldn't hesitate to find her. Until then, however, she would try her best to stay within whatever reach or boundary Lena set up, while also ensuring she was safe.  Cat already had her suspicions that Sharon was none too far away from their niece even now.

“We'll talk, but right now.” Cat reached for Kara's forearms, using her for balance as she slipped out of her shoes and stretched her legs a bit as she stood flat-footed. “I need to get started on dinner.”

Kara swallowed hard, taking note of the gesture for what it was before leaning in and placing a tender kiss to Cat's lips. It was over just as quickly as it had manifested although she remained close enough to kiss the woman again. “Thank you.”

Cat returned the kiss, quick and firm with the barest tug of Kara's bottom lip before she stepped back. “Welcome. It’s no good fussing over things you really shouldn't, but I'm going to allow you to anyway.”

“Allow me to?” Kara smiled faintly. “I feel there's an unveiled threat there.”

“Move it Supergirl, before I make you just sit and watch.”

“Promises promises.” Kara teased as she walked away, grabbing her phone from the nearby end table as she texted Eliza.

Cat smirked, navigating through Kara’s kitchen for the pan she needed before setting it on the small stove and setting the heat.  A few drawers later and she had the utensils she needed before she made her way to the fridge.

Kara made her way into the bedroom with Carter, bouncing him gently on the bed before tasking him with prying the corners of her sheets aside. Keeping an ear out for him she stepped through the joint bathroom into Alex’s room, picking up and storing a few things away given that she had already cleaned it and changed the bedclothes a week prior.

Cat slid a cutting board over, resting a package of wrapped meat on it before slicing a large wedge of brie in half and cutting the rind away.  With expert precision, she divided the cheese into small chunks that she set inside a bowl. She grabbed a thin towel from a drawer, dampening it enough to wipe the blade of her knife before unwrapping the pork tenderloin she had already set out.

On her way back, Kara went over things in the bathroom in case Carter wandered in there.  Securing little curiosities and dangers out of his reach. She tied the cabinets shut before making her way back to her bedroom and the nest Carter was making for himself.  Kara offered him a pillow, taking another for herself before she stripped it bare watching as the little boy followed by example and did the same.

Cat washed her hands, drying them on a nearby towel before pulling another bowl over, thankful the store had small packets of various spices she could mix together instead of purchasing larger bottles of each flavoring.  She measured each spice by hand, filtering paprika, crushed black pepper and salt, through the rub of her fingers before mixing the trio about. With a gradual care, she added freeze-dried garlic and onion, crushed coriander, dill, and crushed red pepper flakes turning the mixture over and over with a fork and her fingers until everything blended together properly.

Kara bundled up Carter and all the bedclothes in one fell swoop, causing him to giggle and laugh as he bounced around while Kara made her way to the small laundry area near the door. Kara plopped him down carefully, making sure there was enough sheet and comforter beneath him so he didn’t bounce or hit the floor hard.

“Now we gotta pull it all apart ok?”

“Same colors and no mixing.” He said matter of factly causing Kara to chuckle as she sat beside him on the floor.

“That’s right buddy.”

Carter climbed over to her, plopping down into her lap as he pulled up the corner of the sheet nearest him, while Kara helped separate each item into small piles.

Each slice of meat was crusted in her seasoning mix until there was hardly any left in the bowl she had started with.  The sizzle of butter filled the small space as Cat dropped two spoonfuls into it, turning the pan about until the butter turned frothy.  She forked each slice of meat into the pan then, nudging them about until they all fit tightly against one another, dusting what was left of the seasoning into the pan.

Another rub of her fingers against the towel and she had a plate set on the counter, covered with a fold of paper towels. Pulling another bigger bowl aside she dumped out fresh baby portabellas from a bag onto the cutting board.  She adjusted the temperature on the stove, nudging the sizzling meat a bit to check it before returning to her cutting board. She sliced through each mushroom easily, tossing them into the nearby bowl along with chopped bits of garlic and a touch of parsley.

Kara set Carter on the folding table, tucking the bed sheets and pillow cases into the washing machine, tossing in a small washing pod and setting the load.  

“Smells good.” Carter hummed, even if he never turned to look at his mother while Kara did.  Already telling herself that the two of them needed to cook together more often. Cat was in a whole other world, still aware of her surroundings with her focus fine-tuned to the intricate dance of preparation and execution that was going to be their dinner for the evening.

“Sooo good.” Kara exaggerated, plucking him off the table again as she made her way back towards the bedroom, dropping Carter on the mattress.  “Ready to dress the bed?”

Carter’s laugh pulled a broader smile on to Kara’s face.  Clearly, the idea of dressing a bed was an absurd concept but one he was happy to help with, as he nodded and moved to the center of the bed to wait.

“Don’t move…” Kara warned to which he nodded as she stepped into her closet just enough to grab another set of sheets and pillowcases.

Cat glanced up as peals of laughter sounded one after the other with small muffled bouts in between. Her glance caught the gentle toss of a pillowcase that Carter failed to catch and just as he pulled himself free another one was right behind it.

She flipped the meat over in the pan, sending another burst of sizzles into the air.  Cat rubbed her hands on her towel once more, finding two glasses from an upper cabinet as she opened a bottle of wine and filled each one up.  At least this way the wine could breathe and acclimate itself before they ate. With another stop at the refrigerator, Cat dug out the copious helping of mashed potatoes she had ordered from Rhodes before stopping at the usual market for everything else and set it into the microwave.

Kara floated the top sheet over Carter, causing him to giggle before he crawled out, holding down the top end as Kara lifted the mattress end and folded the bottom of the sheet, tucking it in before dropping the end with a small ‘wump’ of a noise.  With another snap and flourish, another thinner quilt from the one prior fluttered down. As Kara tended the bottom end, Carter lined it up with the top sheet and carefully folded them over.

“Now for the pillows.” Kara sat in the middle, with Carter tucking into her side as she showed him how to invert the pillowcases over her arms, grab at the end of the pillow and work the case right-side out. Carter held his arms out enthusiastically, allowing Kara to pull the case on inside out and bunch it up until he could grab the pillow she held up for him.  

Cat set the plateful of pork aside, utilizing the same pan to combine the last of the ingredients and a portion of vegetable stock, saving the brie for last. Once the mixture was thick enough she forked the meat back into the pan, lowering the heat to a simmer before placing a lid over it all. Just as she grabbed her wine glass to take a sip she felt the strength of Kara's hands settle around her hips from behind.

“Anything I can help with?”

“Nope.” Cat took a small sip, offering the glass back to Kara who shook her head enough for Cat to feel.

“Did you want me to set up Carter's pod in the bed with you or is he okay to sleep without it?”

Cat set down her glass and turned in Kara’s grasp, searching over the other woman’s features for a long moment.  “Where are you sleeping?” It was a genuine question, as much as it was innocent. Cat had no intention of pushing Kara into something she wasn’t in a mindset to consider given her state.

“I was thinking Alex’s room or the couch.” Kara tipped her head with an edge of curiosity, feeling the tethers of Cat’s thoughts drifting over her like a gentle breeze. She glanced down with the barest pressure of Cat’s hand against her chest and the ensuring warmth that rippled out across her nerves.  

Cat watched as the tension in Kara’s body seemed to ease, her exhale full and heavy as if she had been holding in all the oxygen of the room ever since she woke up this morning. “I’m not sure if we’re being chivalrous or useless.”

Kara smiled against the tucked line of her lips giving a small nod.  “We haven’t really-”

“Talked. I know.  Inviting myself over felt like enough presumption-”

“I could have told you no.” Kara smoothed her hand over the one at her chest, threading her fingers between Cat’s own and drawing her touch away. “I just didn’t feel up to the argument I know you would have put up with at least making dinner before heading home and asking you to stay anyway.”

Cat smiled half-heartedly at Kara’s words washing over the back of her hand before the woman placed a soft kiss there. “I might have argued that point yes, but not to stay. I… I want you to want me to stay, not feel obligated.”

“I don’t feel obligated,” Kara assured, drawing in a deeper breath. “I feel like I’m on a first date and everything I’m doing is awkward and somehow incorrect.” Kara watched Cat’s smile broaden slightly, the other woman’s fingers squeezing against the length of Kara’s own. “I want you to stay… and I want to wake up to you in the morning, in the same bed if possible.  But, I also know Carter’s here and I want him to be safe and if he wakes up, not to be confused with the different environment.”

Cat turned their hands over, placing her own soft kiss to Kara's fingertips. “I love that about you.” Cat untangled their fingers reluctantly with the small beep to her right. “We’ll ask him then, after we eat and get settled.”

Kara stepped back, pressing against the island as Cat turned off the stove and moved the pan aside after stirring its contents. The sound of places clattering together was enough to draw the thumping of little feet their way from the main room.

“Dinner weddy Momma?”

“Almost!” Kara wrapped him up, hoisting him from the ground as she made her way to the sink in order to wash their hands.

Cat dug the mashed potatoes out of the microwave, stirring them thoroughly and spooning healthy portions on the plates she had laid out. She made certain Kara had the largest portion before dividing the meat and sauce over each whipped mountain, again making sure Kara's plate was the fullest.  

“Show your Momma to the table buddy.” Kara urged, setting him back down once his hands were dry.  

Cat looked momentarily confused until Carter carefully wove between Kara, the island, and his mom waving her to follow him. She looked at Kara who gave a slight shrug of a shoulder while gathering everything else they would need.  Cat moved around the island only to realize that Kara and Carter had done more than just redress Kara's bed.

Two large cushions and a beanbag chair were set on the floor around a coffee table that had was just low enough to serve as a proper dinner table. The overhead lights were off and instead, strands of twinkle lights bathed the space in a softer warmth with the backdrop of Kara’s view of National City through the floor to ceiling windows.

Kara was just behind, balancing Carter's plate, their silverware and a variety of other things that Cat was quick to relieve her of and place around the table.

“This was supposed to be-”

“About trying new things.” Kara finished despite Cat's wry look.

Cat settled on the cushions set out for her while Kara made sure Carter could easily navigate his dinner. Already cutting up his portions into smaller bites that were much easier for him to manage. Cat topped off her wine glass, trying not to focus on the thoughts of how even when Kara was having an off day she managed to make sure no one else around her could possibly. With that, Cat also realized how much that set Kara apart and also furthered the actions of her other persona.

“Tank you, Momma,” Carter said already digging into his food with the focused precision only a three-year-old could muster.

“Yes, thank you, Cat. I didn't know you could cook like this.” Kara teased gently, easing on to a cushion and taking note of her portion. “And so generously.”

“There’s a lot you don't know.” Cat hummed, making a display of her next bite with a small click of her teeth against her fork.

“Yet.”

Cat actually waggled her eyebrows at that, hiding her smile behind a sip of her wine. “First thing.” Cat swallowed, turning her attention to her son. “My prince, we have a question for you.”

“Yis Momma?” He took another bite for himself chewing thoroughly.

“Since we're staying the night, where would you like to sleep? There's the big bed…” Cat glanced at Kara.

“Mm..with your Momma. There's Alex’s bed, we could build a sleep fort on it, or out here... “

Carter made a face, clearly thinking it over. He already knew each place he had slept before when he had stayed with Kara and her family just before the start of the year.  In his pod in Kara's room, on the floor with Alex and Clark or one of the airbeds across the living room floor with all the adults. He knew if anything unsettled him while sleeping, he could find Kara even in the dark.

“Fort!” He grinned before scooping another bite on his fork. “Kins I have my eggum?”

“Of course.”

“Mamas’ be close?”

Both women nodded.

“Kins have my toys?”

Kara looked over at Cat on that one.

“A few.” Cat allowed around another bite.

Carter scrunched up his face in thought before nodding and then spooning another full bite into his mouth.  Kara smiled at his antics, glancing across the table at Cat who was already looking at her. Cat winked at Kara, pulling a soft tinge of pink to the other woman’s cheeks.

“Be sure to save some room for dessert, my prince. Whatever you don't finish for dinner you can finish for lunch tomorrow.”

“Momma?” Cat hummed her response, prompting Carter to continue. “Kins have more work day sleeps over? I like sleeps on work days not just weeks ends.”

Cat had been about to say something along the lines of having to wait and see only to find herself chuckling along with Kara's own gentle laughter.

“We'll see buddy. Lots of big things have to be figured out for sleepovers.”  

Carter seemed to consider Kara's statement before giving another Curt nod. “Otay Mama.”

Neither woman corrected him.


	54. Memories Are Like Windows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Kara settle down to talk after dinner. Kara reveals the depths of how she made her way to Earth and Cat gives Kara a very special gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to ChupeyDupey for all the betas :) and keeping my brain on track sometimes when it wanders wildly in the abyss of plot bunnies 
> 
> \-------

Kara finished drying the last of the dishes, having insisted on cleaning up since Cat had made dinner, house rules. There was a half pot of coffee warming and two mugs set aside when Cat remerged. She took her time, slowly easing her way towards Kara. She knew she couldn't rightfully sneak up on her, but the fact that the other woman didn't turn was enough. The weary tension that had held Kara's body so tight was gone, for the most part, leaving only the barest of traces along the lines of her shoulders.

Cat pressed her hand between Kara's shoulder blades feeling those last strings seem to break apart as a result. “He's out. Apparently, field trips are the way to go.”

Kara hummed softly, giving a faint nod before setting the dish and towel aside in order to turn, only to be caught off guard by Cats attire. “Same could be said for you apparently.”

Gone was the expensive skirt and equally expensive button up, replaced with another oversized shirt and Kara guessed little else beneath it. Her makeup was gone, her hair brushed back; Cat was the picture of late-night comfort.

“That's all you,” Cat replied, stepping back to lean against the island. “You should get more comfortable, I'll handle that and meet you…” Cat let her words drift, not wanting to name a place Kara wasn’t comfortable with.

“In there. “ Kara nodded towards her room. “In case we get too tired and fall asleep. If that's-”

“Perfectly fine.” Cat finished, gesturing for Kara to step beyond her in order to get changed. She waited until Kara was out of sight before moving. Thankful Kara had decaf in the cabinet Cat poured small measures of cream, sugar and a touch of cinnamon, at least for Kara, into their cups before filling them with coffee.

She shut off the remaining lights, save for the soft glow of light strands in the living room as she made her way towards Kara’s bedroom, coming to linger just outside the line of where the doors slid closed.

Kara turned with the movement in her periphery, head tipping curiously when Cat didn’t move further and instead offered the faintest of smiles towards Kara’s general direction.  Assuming she had missed something she moved closer with a silence provided by socked feet, watching Cat straighten slightly as she neared.

Cat took a moment to run her eyes over Kara’s frame. The low hang of her sweatpants, that were threadbare at best and undoubtedly the most comfortable, left a panel of skin visible that her tank top just couldn’t seem to reach. She drew in a deep breath, the sound audible between them, before reluctantly lifting her eyes back up to Kara’s features.

“Something wrong?” Kara asked quietly, hands wrapping around the mug Cat offered her.

Cat shook her head. “It’s customary to be invited. Something about intruding on personal spaces and all that.”

A breath of amusement drifted between them on Kara’s behalf, recalling her own words from Cat’s balcony a couple nights before now. Had it honestly only been a few nights ago the two were tangled up in one another?  Kara shook her head at Cat and her own internalized inquiry before reaching out and curling her fingers around Cat’s nightshirt.

Cat’s smile broadened as Kara pulled her shirt taut, still not budging until there was a slight tug threatening to pull her off balance.

“Get in here.” Kara murmured before she twisted the fabric easily, closing the distance between the two of them.

Their mouths met effortlessly, fitting into the contours of pliant lips and guarded emotions. Cat’s hand settled against Kara’s hip, thumb smoothing over the exposed line of skin as an act of comfort. Kara released her hold on Cat’s shirt, fingertips brushing across the curve of Cat’s cheekbone before sinking into her hair with a sigh.

Cat nudged Kara’s features tenderly, urging them apart, taking a moment to breathe the other woman in with their nearness before opening her eyes and lifting her gaze. “If… you need, or even just want to hide away in each other Kara...” Cat’s voice was no louder than a whisper, resonating somewhere deep in her chest.

Kara started to lean forward again as if to touch their foreheads together only to stop herself short.  Her eyes were focused on Cat’s lips, worried what she might say or do were she to look up right now. She felt the weight of Cat’s words and their intention settle over her as if she were holding up the moon.

“I thought you never ran from anything,” Kara whispered back, fingertips slipping from Cat’s hair down to the side of her neck.

“I don’t, and neither do you. I’ve seen that first hand, Kara.” Cat tipped her head back just enough, pulling Kara’s gaze with it. “I do know a thing about timing and there is nothing wrong with taking time for yourself in order to better handle any situation you’re faced with.”

Kara leaned forward just enough, catching Cat’s mouth with her own again, stepping further into their joined space until they were pressed together. There was a quiet sadness brimming along its edge, and Cat could almost feel the emotion tugging on Kara’s expression even without looking at her.  

Cat kissed her back gently, smoothing her hand around Kara’s back and pulling her closer.  Swearing she could hear Kara whisper _‘I love you’_ within her mind a split-second before Kara ushered them apart.

Kara let out another quiet sigh between them, knowing how easy it would be to just wrap Cat up in herself and forget about everything that had come to pass from the last time they were like this.  That, however, would only last for so long. Even if they carried on until the sun rose she knew inevitably Cat would have to go to work. Even if Kara stayed in her apartment with Carter, she would be in the same state she was now. The pair of them would still be brimming with even more questions, no matter how comfortable they seemed to be around one another now.

“Talk to me little bird.”  Cat traced her fingers up and down the short expanse of Kara’s spine that she could reach along her lower back, searching the other woman’s features.

“That’s exactly what we need to do.” Kara leaned into the hand caressing her face, pressing a soft kiss against the pad of Cat's thumb. “C’mere.” Kara relieved Cat of her cup, stepping back and drawing Cat with her. She worked them around the side of the bed with Cat right in step with her. Kara placed their drinks down on the bedside table before climbing onto the bed.

Cat stood at the edge of the bed, thighs pressed against the mattress, as Kara scooted back further. If anyone had told her this was where she'd be a little over four months ago she would have said they were delusional. Four months ago she wouldn't have even really allowed anyone to even entertain the idea aloud.

“Why is this so-”

“Oddly comfortable?”

Cat nodded, easing on to the bed as she made herself comfortable against the headboard facing Kara, as the other woman allowed herself to stretch out and prop her head on her hand.

“I... can't honestly describe it. I know these parts of you, your house, your routine, Carter...all these things and yet.”

“There's so much neither of us have any idea about.”

Kara nodded, licking her lips before gesturing towards her cup for something to do with her other hand. “Can I just ask questions or …?”

Cat smiled softly, passing the cup over and claiming her own in the process. “How very truth or dare.”

Kara hummed with a faintly amused note. “It feels very backwards and at the same time I don't know of any other way I'd want this.”

“Tell me how you came here…” Cat started, watching Kara carefully. “I have the edited Supergirl version but I feel as if a part of those details are some of the reason behind today.”

“You wouldn't be entirely wrong,” Kara stated softly, turning her cup on the bed. Already her mind was supplying flashes of memories she knew would never fade in their vibrancy or intensity.  “I was eleven when it all happened. I can remember rumors about my planet and its instability from much earlier. My family, on Krypton, knew that they weren't rumors and many of them tried so many different things in their own ways to get the rest of my world to see.”

“So few people against so many…” Cat scooted down further, bringing the two of them closer. “I can't imagine that they could have gotten far, even with their best efforts.”

Kara gave a small, almost sad smile at that. “On Krypton we had different guilds, almost like castes here on Earth. At sixteen there's a special ceremony and you kind of get to choose which one to go into.”

Cat’s brow furrowed at the ‘kind of’ mention but stayed quiet just the same.

“My world was run by a high council,” Kara continued, her words slow and deliberate as if each phrase was a catalyst for another memory formulating perfectly within her mind. “My parents were a part of it, as well as my father’s brother. My mother’s sister was the military guild leader and my mother the science guild’s. Each of their voices mattered, they decided everything.”

Kara swallowed thickly, the sudden realization of those words hitting her harder than she had expected.  She felt Cat’s hand covering her own, squeezing gently. “Sending me and my cousin here was just one. When the rest of the council refused to listen they did all manner of things. Things I’m still finding out about all the time it seems.”

Cat tipped her head slightly, the memory of a conversation with Kara when Cat had first noted something different about her and the way she handled Carter. “Your cousin… the one you mentioned having given up.”

Kara nodded, taking a long sip of her drink. “Our parents tethered our escape pods together and sent us here. Except we got stuck in this place that the council used to banish criminals to. Inside that place was a kind of prison which, ironically, my aunt was sent to by my mother for defying the council about the destruction of our planet. ”

Cat swore under her breath causing Kara to look at her more directly.  

“Are you sure you want-”

“My God yes. Oh Kara, I'm sorry I’m just… putting all these little bits together.” Cat shook her head slightly. That Kara maintained any semblance of her sunny disposition was miraculous to Cat and she knew she was only seeing the first few layers of it all. “How...how long were you stuck?”

“Twelve years.”

Cat swore again before apologizing for her quiet outbursts, her mind suddenly mentioning that the math didn't work. Kara easily recognized the expression and let out a slow breath.

“You're older than you look, aren't you?”

Kara actually smiled, watching Cat’s mind work behind her eyes was sometimes such a breathtaking occurrence. “I'm technically older than you are. That place we got stuck in, it's a void, not even time passes in it.” Kara saw the next question in Cat's eyes and drew a breath to save the other woman’s. “I’d be turning thirty-eight this year if Earth were Krypton.”

Cat let out an audible breath. She could feel there was far more than Kara was explaining and she had no doubt they would come to a point where she was provided those details, but not at this moment.  

“Astra is your aunt isn’t she?”  

Kara lifted her gaze up to Cat more directly then, straightening up with an arched brow.

“At the Seraphim, you said she was your family. Given the way she reacted to Asher and-” Cat felt the rest of her words stumble, realizing that her family was responsible for the damage done to Kara’s. “My family.”

“Don’t own sins that don’t belong to you,” Kara said quietly. “Trust me. It’s an odd lesson  I’ve learned as Supergirl recently, but an important one.”

“What do you mean?”

“My mother was the one who passed judgment against those put in that prison.  When I landed here, I drug that thing and anyone who survived and escaped down along with me. They know what that symbol on my suit means and who wore it last before they were sentenced.”

“But those were- are legitimate criminals who I’m sure went against some law of your planet whose sentence your mother carried out according to her position. My sister, her son-”

“Should be thankful they have you...”  Kara sat up completely then, setting her cup on the nightstand closest to her as she looked Cat over. “I thought my aunt was still in that zone, or at worst dead.  My mother put her there hoping she would survive and find me someday. When I crashed on Earth and that prison crashed with me, Astra didn’t get to escape like some of the rest.”

Cat watched Kara ever so carefully, a sinking feeling burning across her spine.

“It’s why I got so upset that day with you and Lillian on your balcony.  She had Astra the whole time I was here… and then she ended up being your sister. I just... I wanted to throw her from the balcony and at the same time felt an overwhelming urge to try and save her or something, from herself.”

Cat set her face on her hands, running over every little moment Kara was relaying to her while also trying to contemplate how her own sister could be capable of the things Kara was implying.  They lingered in that silence for a long moment. Cat seemed to be searching the entirety of the universe between them, while Kara tried not to read her lack of response or further questions as something that it wasn’t.

“How many people knew?”

“Knew?” Kara frowned.

“You weren’t mad at Lillian, you weren’t mad at me, not right then.  You were mad at something else. An anger beneath the anger, I knew it when I touched you.” Cat took a deeper breath looking up at Kara once again. “How many people knew about her?”

“Enough.”

“Did Olivia know?”

Kara let out a dark sigh, providing Cat her answer without a word. “Cat you need to talk to her about it. They didn’t-”

“Tell you either. That’s what you were mad about.  You found out on the balcony that day that Lillian and I were related, didn’t you?”

“It didn’t change anything, not with us, and wouldn’t have even if I had known before.”

“But it did change some things didn’t it Kara?”

“It did, but not for the worse, I promise.” Kara scooted closer, until they were touching, making sure they maintained that contact as she ducked down enough to pull Cat’s gaze to her more directly. “I stopped working for those people directly and made some very distinctive choices concerning myself.”

“You work with them still though, the UCEO, whatever they were before you were working for them until-”

“That… is even more complicated.” Kara allowed, rubbing at the back of her neck.

“Putting it in really simple terms, yes I work with them still, they have more resources and they’re trying to help Astra and anyone else who’s not from Earth.”

“Especially against people like Lillian and Alexander.”

Kara let out a soft sigh. “There will always be people like that. There always have been.  It’s different this time only because it involves something that’s easy to excuse in a lot of people’s minds.” Kara gave a small shrug when Cat looked up at her. “We’re not human, no matter how hard any of us try.”

Cat flexed her jaw at that, reaching up to hold Kara’s face in her hands as she leveled her eyes on the other woman’s. “Kara… you are more human than a very large number of people on this planet combined. Don’t sell yourself short of your humanity because you came from the stars. We all came from the stars. Just because they're different ones, doesn't make you any less than me or anyone.”

Kara took a deep breath, feeling Cat do the same. “Maybe...that wasn't the best thing to have started with.”

Cat let out a soft laugh, drawing Kara close in order to place the softest of kisses on her lips. “Blame my insatiable curiosity.” Cat eased her hold, letting her hands slip away and come to rest on Kara's knees. “Tell me... unless you're tired or-”

“I'm not.”

“I don't quite understand. You said your Aunt was sentenced by your mother for going against that council but-”

“They were twins.” Kara saw that fact slam into Cat like a wrecking ball.

“Oh Kara.”

“Like I said, my family did a lot of things when they couldn't save their planet. They turned their focus on me, my cousin and themselves.” Kara chewed on her bottom lip a bit. “My father, with help from his brother and Astra, put my mother into a pod against her will. I didn't know until Astra told me. Even then, none of us, even my mother, knew where she was.”

“She’s alive?”

Kara gave a small nod and Cat reined in the burst of hopeful excitement pounding against her ribs with it.  “She’s still in her pod. This past weekend, the reason I had to leave after Alex called was that Astra started singing but she hasn’t woken up yet.”

Cat’s brow furrowed and she felt the excitement and hope drain from her as her mind put everything together. “She’s on that asteroid, isn’t she… your mother.”

Kara nodded. “There’s… there’s no safe way to get her free of it. For her, me, Earth.” Kara ran a hand through her hair with a frustrated edge.  “That’s why I’ve been the way I have today and I can’t promise I won’t continue to feel or behave-”

“Kara. It’s your mother and after everything, I don’t even know how you can function.” Cat reached over then, taking Kara’s hands in her own.  She drew them up in a bundle, pressing her lips across Kara’s knuckles. “Taking a day, a week, just taking time for yourself is not a crime. The world will not end in the fifteen minutes you take for yourself and even if it did then it deserved to.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Kara listen to me. You cannot put yourself aside, even for your love of humanity which is a very big part of you.  Two things will inevitably happen. You’ll come to resent the world, or you’ll come to resent yourself. Invulnerable or not, Kryptonian or human…” Cat placed her hand on Kara’s chest, flexing her fingers gently.

“This matters. You, your well-being, it’s not something to be sacrificed. The world was getting along just fine without you. Maybe not with the greatest end result-”

“But now people know I exist.  People that will stop at nothing to end my life because of my mother and call it justice.  People who would harm you or Carter in order to make me suffer in some screwed up idea of righteousness.  People that would take advantage of any number of possible scenarios if they knew I wasn’t around and had no quick way to come back.”

“Kara-”

“I can’t, I won’t.  Your sister could do anything, any number of people could if the world knew I wasn’t here.”  Kara felt Cat tighten the grip of their hands, tangled with one another. “It’s why we need to talk… about this, about us-”

“Kara please.” Cat felt her heart tighten and her lungs threaten to cease functioning. “I may not have known everything I was getting into with you, but I do now. Maybe not all of it but I know so much more than I did, please don’t tell me things would be easier or better or safer-.”

Kara let out a broken kind of laugh, looking heavenward and giving a small shake of her head.

“I love you Kara, even these parts of you.  I know nothing is constant and no one knows the future but please-”

“What about Carter?” Kara said thoughtfully.  “He calls me Mama, Cat, and we’re not correcting him.  If anything were to happen to him because of me, or if something happened to me because of who I am, would you be so willing?” Kara pulled in a deep breath.  “I wasn’t, I swear, I wasn’t going to say what you think I would about us. I’m not going to lie and say I don’t think about things like that all the time.” Kara swallowed hard, pulling a hand away to wipe at her face.

“I never… taking care of Kal was the only time I thought about something like that, and in the end, I still had to make the smarter, better choice for him and his life. Thankfully I’m still in his but I wasn’t sent here to have a normal life Cat.” Kara looked at the other woman directly then, staring straight into her soul. “No matter how much and how hard I’ve fought to have one, how much I want…”

“If you think my life or what we’re doing is normal, I’m sorry.  I would have warned you before now but I didn’t know I was falling in love with you until I forgot how not to.”

“I know… and this wasn’t the kind of conversation I had intended tonight. I just, I love you so much.” Kara took another deeper breath. “And I love him, I love that little boy as if he were my own and I know I have no right to that,  but I do and all of it scares me so much.” Kara rubbed a hand over her face again, feeling her words threatening to choke her.

“While I won’t say it, I won’t voice the things that are based out of fear and someone else’s obligations, I will tell you that if you want an out, take it now. I won’t fight or argue, because loving you this much could be enough. Carter won’t get any more attached, neither will you nor I.  We’ll still be a part of each other and the best parts at that but-”

Kara’s words halted somewhere within Cat’s mouth. The other woman’s hands were threaded through her hair, curling into fists to keep Kara in place as she kissed her hard enough to shut her up.  

Cat felt Kara’s hands flutter around her waist until Cat was on her knees where they fastened around her hips to keep her from falling. Cat felt Kara’s body shift and adjust until they were pressed against one another, with Kara still seated and Cat above her on her knees.  

Between broken gasps and soft murmurs of words, neither of them could make out, Cat broke away staying near as she looked down at the other woman.  

“Stop…please” Cat breathed, kneading Kara’s scalp to ease the fierceness of her grip a moment prior. “May I talk now?”  

Kara barely nodded, their noses brushing together with the action, as she kept her hold around Cat’s waist.

“I’m just as scared for you, Alexandra, and for your family. I am constantly reminded that I am more responsible, even indirectly, for the dangers you have to face than anyone else in this world could even think to be.  I’m terrified of what my sister or nephew might do to get at you, through me or through some other means.” Cat nudged Kara’s features tenderly.

“However, I’m not giving you up. Anything could happen to any one of us, superpowered or not, at any given moment.  Carter’s father is example enough of that. He was like you, made it a point of saving those in the world around him and it caught up with him.” Cat eased down onto her heels, making sure Kara’s gaze followed her.

“Trust me when I tell you I know what this means. You and I together, my son learning to love you like a parent and all of us building whatever it is we’ve started whichever way it takes us.”  Cat brushed the round of Kara’s cheek, rubbing the tears there between the pads of her fingers before she set her hand firmly against the flat of Kara’s chest.

“I am not giving you up, when it gets hard or rough or dangerous. No matter how many times you have to fly away from me and straight into the mouth of hell, I’m going to be here waiting for you to come back to me. While I might not forgive the world or even you, I’ll understand if there ever comes a time that you don’t.”

Kara circled her arms around Cat’s body, fingers twisting around the material of her nightshirt as she pulled her close until their foreheads touched.  Cat wrapped a hand around the back of Kara’s head letting out a quivering exhale, as the sensation of Kara almost being poured into her washed over her insides.

Cat felt the world shift and the depth of the bed settle against her back as Kara’s weight stretched out over her, provoking another heady exhale to erupt between them.  The covers settled over them in a ripple of motion as Kara aligned her arms beneath Cat’s back, hands palming the curve of her shoulders while their legs tangled together.

 _“Can I keep you…_?” Drifted through the both of them, spreading through Cat’s mind and back to where it had originated into Kara.  

“Yes.” Cat breathed, fingers tangling in Kara’s hair as she held them together, breathing each other in hungrily.

No sooner had the word left her, Cat began to see the flicker of images that blossomed into more vibrant memories that weren’t her own. She closed her eyes, nodding against Kara as each little event played out in her mind, rife with the tethers of corresponding emotions. Her body responded involuntarily, wrapping the other woman up as if she could protect her from what she was bearing witness to.

Kara winced faintly. She concentrated enough to ensure she didn’t overwhelm the other woman with their shared connection to the point of them both getting lost in the past, no matter how much that past seemed to be playing on her present. She felt Cat’s body envelop her own, sheets and comforter pulled closer as if to cocoon them in each other, even if only for a few moments.

 _“Show me how…”_ Cat’s voice wrapped around her mind, her intentions clear. _“Please Kara, show me.”_

Kara cradled Cat’s head in her hand, easing enough of her weight so she wasn’t crushing the other woman. “It may not work the same...” Kara whispered, unsure of that statement herself.

Where Cat was human, Kara had been made for this. She was genetically engineered from ancient bloodlines that she knew had been reactivated in her.  She suspected her uncle, but another part of her suspected someone else behind it. The Touch of Life had only ever been a kind of temporary exchange as she had grown up with it. It is rooted in mythos as old as Krypton itself.  Only she knew now it wasn’t mythos, not with her.

“Try...to remember a moment, something you would want me to know. That you could describe without even thinking about it in absolute detail.” Kara breathed deeply, knowing there was no one capable of bringing her back if Cat flung Kara so far into the sea of her own emotional core and overwhelmed her.

Cat tensed with the vague warning she wasn’t even sure Kara had relayed to her, trying to slow her breathing down, already feeling the first twinges of her own emotions with the start of the memory she had settled upon.

Kara gasped gently, her body suddenly felt hot and heavy. Lances of pain, dulled from memory and not actuality were settled around her hips and lower back.  Frayed nerves had combined with fatigue and tangled around guilt and worry. She was alone and then numb, left with nothing but thoughts of a man Kara didn’t know and how he would never experience this moment with her beyond the ethereal.  

She was staring up at an odd reflection of Cat, breathless with an even heavier weight, as if someone were pushing down against her, on her chest.  There were others in her periphery but they were a blur. The initial expectation of calm and joy for this situation whatever it was, had been replaced with the exact opposite. Only now, all the pain and fire and torture of her insides were gone.

Kara felt suffocated and on the verge of passing out. She heard Cat tell her to stay with her a few times over. Just as the overwhelming need to pass out hazed her vision Kara heard it, a soft whimper of a thing. Instantly Kara felt like herself again, surfacing from within the memory instead to experience it through observation.

She felt something akin to flying. A rich, indistinct soaring feeling of relief came over Kara, only to be grounded instantly with the small weight of a newborn baby placed on Cat's chest like it was her own. The world melted away, her entire focus narrowed in on the new life laying naked and fragile and impossibly quiet against her.

 _“I want to hold him…”_ Cat's voice sounded weak, her body under no control of her own.

A nurse eased her arm up, setting her hand near the little boy who instantly clung to her finger. Towels and hospital issue cloths were placed over and around him but their immediate contact remained, heartbeat to heartbeat.

Cat was a mess, sweaty and pale, surrounded by strangers in scrubs and masks. Kara knew there was no one there to offer support or comfort. To reflect the miraculous nature of what had just transpired, despite the initial emergency that had brought them to this very room, back at Cat and tell her how beautiful and amazing she was.

It was then Kara realized, that didn't matter. Not this moment. What mattered was they were both alive, safe and that Cat was utterly in love. Even with the faint whispers of guilt and memories of the first, and much easier, time she had done this concerning Adam lingering in the back of her mind.

“ _Hello, my prince…”_

Kara sagged heavily against the other woman. Cat lingered in the memory. Gradually thinking about what had brought them to this point, with the hope of easing Kara back to the present. Cat focused on her body, the way the bed felt, the heaviness of Kara's frame. She tucked the memory away, focusing on the sounds of the room, of each other breathing, the nighttime hour and what day it was when Kara finally took a deeper breath.

Cat shifted her weight.  She rolled them on their sides in a tangle of limbs until she felt Kara squeeze the back of her head tenderly.

“I'm here.” She husked, as the both of them allowed their connection to break apart. Kara swallowed hard, pulling Cat to her as she hugged the other woman's body against her own, nuzzling her features.

Cat pressed a soft series of kisses against Kara's skin, turning over just enough to turn off the lamp beside the bed. Kara followed her regardless, urging Cat on her back before wrapping up against her side.

“Thank you,” Kara whispered against Cat's neck.  

Cat filtered her fingers through Kara's hair, rubbing her chin against the woman’s temple.  “Was worried I went too far.”

“Practice.” Kara drew in a deep breath, her body relaxing even further with her exhale.

“I'll help you.”

“Sleep first.” Cat nested deeper into the mattress, feeling Kara's fingers interlock around her opposite side as the other woman nodded, leaving the pair of them to drift off.


	55. The Interval Between Us and Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after brings with it more truths and even more misunderstandings and not just for Kara and Cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the betas as always Chupster!
> 
> NSFW chapter to start fair warning
> 
> I know we had a quiet moment there but the show must go on ;) angsty warnings!

Cat watched the woman beside her floating a few inches from the bed with the utmost fascination. She assumed that were she not actively holding onto the covers, Kara would be floating exponentially higher. Cat glanced at the clock just beyond the bed before turning her attention back to Kara.  She pulled those sheets even tighter, with a soft smile, until the other woman was nearly against the bed once more.

“Little bird…” Cat whispered, sitting up enough to touch the line of Kara’s arm only to have  both of them bounce with Kara’s immediate return to wakefulness.

Cat started to say something more, only to have Kara’s arms snake around her waist and pull her close.  Kara nuzzled down against her, throwing a leg over Cat’s body for good measure before the pair of them floated above the bed.

“Too early.”

Kara’s muffled voice warmed Cat’s skin even more than the hold on her did. Cat held on for lack of much else to do, nosing her way through sleep-tousled hair until she found the curve of Kara’s ear.

“There’s still something I need to tell you,” Cat whispered, having fully intended on mentioning the entirety of the events that had transpired once she had arrived back at CatCo the day before.

“No, I don't have a contingency plan for my identity,” Kara replied causing Cat to stiffen slightly.

The pair of them returned to the mattress gently, with Kara wrapping Cat up fully as she stretched out on top of her. She kept enough of her body elevated so as not to smother the woman beneath her, but still allowed enough of her weight to press into Cat's body.

“How did you know?” Cat swept Kara's hair from her face, holding the curtain at bay as Kara looked down at her through a haze of sleep that was quickly siphoned away.

“I just know… I don't have finite details but it's something you want to know because someone has done or seen something.” Kara let out a dark sigh. “Like I told you last night… people will try to-”

“They're not after you. They're after me. They're using you, both of you, to get to me.”  Cat swallowed hard, searching Kara's features. “I didn't want to-”

“I'm not upset,” Kara assured, watching Cat relax a bit. “I mean I'm not thrilled about any of it, but I'm not upset with you. I knew you were going to tell me I just-”

“Can't explain how.” Cat finished, watching Kara tip her head slightly.

“It's our life touch, it… it can be very binding apparently. The more we do it, the stronger it can get.”

“Like reading my mind or?”

“I… not that specific, it's like a knowing. I… it's all so confusing and tangled, but not because it shouldn't be that strong. It wasn't on Krypton except-”

“With others in your family.”

Kara nodded. “That and you're human, I use more of my brain than you do.” It was Kara's turn to swallow visibly, causing Cat to stroke her face tenderly.

“It's alright. I’m safe with you.” Cat leaned up, placing the barest of kisses against Kara's lips. “We’ll figure it out.”

“I don't want to hurt you or something.”

“You won't Kara. It's not possible… I know it.” Cat tugged Kara to her, drinking in the sigh that escaped the other woman.

Kara tightened her arms around Cat's body, twisting them around in the sheets until Cat's full weight was pressing down on her. Cat filtered her fingers through Kara's hair, turning her head enough to lick her way inside Kara's mouth with a heady groan of a sound from the other woman.

Cat hummed softly, the sound deepening within her chest as Kara's hands rounded over her curves and kneaded firmly. Cat rolled her hips down, pulling a soft gasp from Kara until she felt the firm pressure of her thigh rubbing up against her.

“Don't start…what we can't finish” Cat murmured around Kara's bottom lip in the grasp of her teeth. 

Kara's answer was the kneading pressure of her fingers and a slight bounce of her thigh against Cat's body. Kara chased after Cat's mouth, pressing her hips up against Cat with another moan. “But you're in my bed…”

Cat chuckled, warm and full-bodied. “Worried I won't be again?” She sucked in a sharp breath as she rolled her hips down, rubbing herself against the shelf of Kara's thigh.

“Maybe... Gods you feel good.” Kara's hips were already setting an eager rhythm, driving in small, tight circles upwards against Cat's frame.

Cat shifted, unable to get proper leverage with the lack of a surface beneath her legs. Her hands pawed at Kara's shoulders as she extracted herself in order to sit up enough to realize exactly why.

Kara bit at her bottom lip, hands still palming at Cat's ass until she felt the hard flex of the woman's thighs around her body. Cat set her hands on the flat of Kara's chest, digging her fingers inward before driving herself back and down with a decadent moan.

Kara slid her fingers beneath the line of Cat's waistband, skimming her nails against the bend of her leg until she felt Cat grab her wrist to stop her. Cat shook her head slowly, drawing Kara's free hand out only to guide it between them until the length of Kara's fingers molded around her intimately. Cat drove her hips down with another sensuous motion, pressing the hand against Kara's chest down even harder.

“Better?” Cat husked, watching Kara nod. She already knew this wasn't going to be slow and drawn out until they couldn't move. Especially when she felt Kara's hand press upward teasing along the wet heat pooling between her legs.  Cat let out another breathy exhale in response to the sinful flutter of Kara's fingers through the thin cotton barrier separating them.

Kara's free hand surrounded Cat's hip, thumb rubbing firmly against the round of bone there as she braced Cat against her leg. Her hips were still rolling up and around in short little bursts as Cat leaned her weight onto the hand against Kara's chest. Cat grabbed the top end of Kara's headboard with her other hand, keeping them from drifting against the ceiling as she drove her hips against the rhythm of Kara's own at an ever-increasing pace.

“Cat please…” Kara begged, fingertips already soaked where they pressed up against the other woman.

Cat was already breathing heavy while fire coated her insides from the base of her spine up and outward. She drug her hand down Kara's torso, pushing aside her shirt to claw at her skin, while pulling Kara upward in the process. Cat dug her thighs around Kara's body, using their shift in position to pull and tug at Kara's waist until she felt the searing heat of the woman's bare skin against her own.

“T-turn your hand over…” Cat splayed her other hand over Kara's chest once more, urging her back down towards the bed as she felt Kara's hand press firmly against her and start to twist around.

Kara felt the wetness of Cat's arousal paint itself across her knuckles while she carried out Cat’s request. Her heart was pounding against her ribs, hips still rolling upward in eager disjointed circles even as Cat pushed her back.

“I know what you want.” Kara breathed, stretching her fingers between them as Cat pinned her hand in place with a thrust of her hips.

Cat let out a purr of a laugh that never quite broke past her chest. She dug her fingers in again, grinding her hips down hard and holding them still. “Do you now…?”

Kara nodded as she reached up with her free hand, wrapping it under and around Cat's own along the top rung of her headboard. She bent her fingers, pressing her knuckles against the throbbing heat of Cat's sex while teasing the exposed wetness of her own with her fingertips.

“What’re you waiting for?” Cat uttered, feeling the heavy pull of her insides as they twisted and coiled towards Kara's fingers.

“You…” Kara pitched her hips up sharply, sending a muffled round of groans up from the both of them. “To tell me Cat. I want…” Kara's head fell back as she teased herself, swirling a finger around the swollen bundle of nerves begging for more pressure. “I want to hear you say it…”

Cat felt the ghosting of Kara's fingers teasing and pushing against her, the sensation of wings fluttering across her insides, pulling at her abdomen and distinctly knowing that wasn't _her_ body's response. “You're so close,” Cat warned, knowing she wasn't too far herself.

Kara's hips chased her own hand as she straightened her fingers away, catching the soaked edge of cotton and pushing it aside enough to drag the tips of her fingers through Cat's soaked folds as far as she could strain to reach. “Gods Cat…”

Cat’s hips rocked forward involuntarily while her teeth fit around her bottom lip to suppress the next word out of her mouth as she felt the shallow swirl of Kara's fingers. “Inside… I want to feel you-” Cat held back another whimper as Kara's fingers flexed away.

Kara panted breathlessly, pushing her chest against Cat's hand as she slid her own fingers inside herself. Her hips jumped hungrily with the twist of her fingers until Cat's hips dug down against her hand forcing their lengths in deeper. Kara’s head fell back, her hair sweeping against the pillows, exposing her throat as Cat drove her hips down harder, grinding herself against the motion of Kara's hand in and out of herself.

Cat swore under her breath, fingers digging into Kara’s chest and pulling at her headboard as she rolled her hips forward and down against the upward friction of Kara’s hand.  She felt the ghosting of Kara’s fingers spiralling in and out, tangling the strings of her nerves until they pulsed and throbbed with a hungry familiarity against her insides.

Soft whimpers chased every breath as Cat watched Kara through half-lidded eyes as the other woman’s body began to tremble and stutter.  Cat ground her hips down hard, holding herself in place against the ever quickening drive of Kara’s hand as all efforts devoted to any kind of rhythm were completely abandoned. Kara felt a band around her waist snap and her walls vice around her fingers in decadent waves, forcing her hips up as Cat dug her hips down as her body bent back against Kara's thigh.

Miraculously the pair remained relatively silent, holding everything in as their bodies struggled and fought against one another only to cast them aside roughly. Kara pried Cat’s hand from the headboard, threading their hands together before the pair fell onto the mattress with a bounce and a strangled series of groans.

Cat found Kara's skin first, using the flat of her tongue to taste her before fitting her lips and teeth around skin and biting down on another satisfied moan. Kara actually hissed, freeing her hand with a grunt of sound before clutching the sheets and twisting. Their bodies continued to tremble and jump as the last of their nerves fired and ricocheted between the two of them and their bodies gave way to a blissful undulating calm.

Cat hummed with a satisfactory purr, adding a little more pressure with her teeth until she felt the burning pressure against her own skin opposite Kara's.

“Cat…” Kara's voice was uncertain and instantly the other woman released her only to feel her breath catch at the sight of the reddened welt against Kara's skin that glared back at her. Red, throbbing, wet and swollen with small indentations from Cat's teeth stared back at her, forcing her to sit up a bit further.

“Oh...oh Kara..I...what-”

“It's ok…” Kara breathed, tucking her chin down to try and see before looking up at Cat who looked caught between intrigued and mortified. “Cat... it's ok.”

“Why...why isn't it-” her words faltered as Kara thumbed the same spot against her own skin causing her to suck in a sharp breath at the small burst of pleasure-driven pain she felt as a result.

“Are they, your powers-they're…” Cat sat up completely, her body still thrumming from their efforts and this new burst of adrenaline.

Kara followed her up, turning towards Alex's room where Carter was still asleep, easily seeing through the walls to confirm such. She blinked her vision back to normal before looking back at Cat.

Cat sat up straighter as Kara's eyes glowed almost blue-white before Cat cupped her features feeling the warmth radiating beneath that gaze as it began to fade again while the mark still remained. Cat's fingers brushed over the skin provoking a shudder from the other woman.

“They're fine….and I can still feel that…” Kara whispered, studying Cats features carefully.

“It's not healing,” Cat answered back, watching the muscles in Kara's throat tense and jump as she caressed it.

“We're not going to make it into the office if you keep touching me like that…”

Cat's eyes lifted sharply, fingers still lingering on the offended spot. “I would say I'm sorry-”

“But you're not, neither am I.” Kara pulled Cat closer into her lap, nuzzling her features affectionately. “I promise, I'll have tests and things run...but it might not be me."

Cat pulled in a deep breath, scooting closer as she placed soft kisses against Kara's skin and nudging her gently. Before she could speak further she heard the small thump of footsteps headed their way. With a reluctant motion Cat eased off Kara's lap, straightening the covers as the other woman pulled the waist of her pants up despite the sheets surrounding them.

Carter stumbled into the room then, his hair a manic array of a style and stuffed T-Rex held in his firm grip dragging the floor.

“Mama early.” Was all he could yawn out before he rushed the bed and thumped into the side of the mattress. Kara grabbed him a second after, hauling him up and setting him in the middle between them on top of the comforter.

“Almost time to get up,” Kara stated, trying to usher his hair down to no avail.

“No. Sleeps over, sleeps in.” He pouted around a yawn as Cat rubbed his back glancing between the two.

“Maybe just a little.” Cat offered much to Kara's surprise. “Little snuggles never hurt anyone.”

Kara rose a high brow watching as Cat settled Carter between them, using the comforter to surround him as he willingly cuddled down. Cat scooted further under the sheets, watching Kara follow suit as they tucked in around him gently, looking at each other over the crown of his head as he instantly fell back to sleep.

“An hour won't kill us, besides you get ready faster than anyone else I know,” Cat whispered as she laid her arm over Carter’s body, leaving her hand to curl around Kara’s hip on the other side of him.

Kara threaded her fingers through Cat’s hair, leaning into her own arm as she watched the woman relax completely as sleep swept over Cat within the next second.  She set her free hand over Carter’s back, feeling the slow undulation of his breathing as she continued to watch over the both of them, silently longing for more mornings like this.

 

**\-------**

 

Alex drew in a slow breath, her body already knowing the sun would be breaking across the horizon despite the fact she was on spring break.  As far as her classes were concerned anyway, her shifts at the hospital were still in place although for her and the other students they had been truncated to accommodate the school curriculum.

She reached up to stretch only to come up short with the unfamiliar pressure around her abdomen. Her eyes opened abruptly, hands still held above her head as she looked down and came up short on her own oxygen supply.  The string of leads and the heart rate monitor looked almost like armor on the hand that was splayed out across her solar plexus.

Alex tracked the limb, taking note of Astra’s shifted position more on her side than her back, as she slowly brought her arms down.  Her hands hovered over Astra’s, almost afraid that if she made contact she would wake up for real.

She kept as still as possible, attempting to regulate the sudden spike in her breathing as she let her hands drift lower and lower until they settled over the one resting across her abdomen. When she didn’t wake up a second time Alex flexed her fingers a little, and when Astra showed no additional response she let out an almost defeated hum of a sound.

Alex lifted one hand away, the other drawing small circles across Astra’s knuckles.  She watched the other woman’s face carefully as she ran a single knuckle across the side of Astra’s face with no response.  Not even the barest flutter of an eyelash.

Trying not to let the discouragement get to her she turned slightly, keeping Astra’s hand against her body.  The woman had moved on her own at some point, and voluntarily or not it was something different. At this rate, anything different was good.  Alex let her other hand slip away to accommodate her own comfort as she shifted enough to be able to look at Astra who embodied the perfect picture of a sleeping warrior.

The lines of stoicism that held the woman’s body so rigid were gone, but the world that had shaped the woman was still evident in every ounce of her.  It was evident in the shape of her and the scars that Alex could see on her hands and just beyond her hairline. She knew those scars carried the weight of epic tales concerning their origin and how they had served to elevate Astra into her position as Krypton’s general.

Alex searched over Astra’s features for a long moment, already feeling the sun’s warmth coming in through the window.

“Astra...” She whispered mostly to herself, scooting just a little closer before closing her eyes and pressing her forehead against Astra’s own. “Where are you…?”

She heard the monitors before anything else, the spike in heart rate followed by some kind of alarm before the barest ounce of pressure surrounded the back of her head like a reflex and pitched her into darkness.

With the alarm sounding from Astra’s room Eliza was up in an instant, knowing personnel were already on the way. She half expected to see Alex in the hallway like the last time and instead heard more of a commotion just beyond the threshold of Astra’s room.  Another agent grabbed her as they collided. His apologies falling on deaf ears as she looked over his shoulder at the others trying to rouse Alex, before the monitors surrounding Astra went off in another round of alerts.

“It’s got to be some kind of involuntary muscle response-”

“What’s going on?” Eliza’s demand broke through the string of voices tending to Astra and apparently her daughter. “I want a status now.”

“There was a spike in Astra’s neuro-activity that triggered additional responses throughout her system.”

Eliza moved to the side of the bed, dropping down the guard with a bang as she tried to shake Alex awake. She watched as Astra’s levels spiked again, before snatching a penlight from the nearest agent’s pocket.  

“Alex,” Eliza thumbed open Alex’s eyes one at a time, watching the rapid movement beneath and no response to the light she shined on them. “Alexandra baby wake up…”

“We found them both like this.” The agent pointed to Alex. “Every time we try to move her there’s another series of spikes and Astra’s hold on her tightens. We’re afraid if we try to force them apart-”

“She’ll wind up hurting both of them.” Eliza finished, moving to Astra and repeating the test with the same result.   “Prep medical and get Henshaw down there now.”

“You can’t possibly-”

“I can’t run any tests on either of them like this. It was one thing when it was just waiting for Astra to wake up.  Now, unhook her from the monitors and get those guards up. No one touches either of them, save for basic vitals during transport, until we determine what’s going on.”

Eliza swallowed heavily, searching over the two women while trying to remain somewhat clinical despite the growing worry that at any given moment Astra could crush her daughter and not even know it.

“One. Two. Go!”  Eliza and the others moved like a machine, unplugging Astra’s leads from each machine as they cleared the room and unlocked the wheels of her medical bed.  

“Path clear, elevator held and Henshaw on standby in medical!” Came a shout from down the hall as Eliza and the other medical agents rushed down the corridor.

 

**\-------**

 

Kara stood just behind Carter, an arm wrapped around his waist where he stood on her bathroom counter as the pair of them made exaggerated noises akin to growling while looking in the mirror as they brushed their teeth.

“Meft side..” Kara said before brushing away with a ridiculous flair while Carter mimicked her and the two tried to outdo the other with noises while not choking.

Cat was in the bedroom, already dressed where she sat on the edge of a chair in front of Kara’s bedroom mirror setting the final touches of her make-up, despite the cacophony of noise just behind and to the left of her.

Before now she would have abhorred the scene she found herself in; the domesticity of it, the noise and controlled chaos of it all.  She knew early on she was never going to be a housewife or a stay at home woman of any kind. It had been ill-fitting when she had tried it on before, but this was something entirely different. Something one read about, or made an unsavory noise towards when some well-to-do career woman spoke of the little things that drove her towards more ambition.  

Cat heard the laughing shout from her son, straightening from the mirror enough to turn in their direction as Kara came walking in holding Carter upside down by his ankles with an expression of absolute normalcy at the situation.

“We’re ready.” Kara grinned while Carter laughed and tried to protest that they were anything but.

Cat stood a second after, stepping into her heels before straightening the line of her belt around her waist.  She hrmed loudly looking the pair of them up and down, going so far as to check the tie of Carter’s shoes despite his position before leaning up and giving a quick kiss to Kara’s lips.

“Good enough for me. Let’s go, Austin’s waiting.”

“What!?” Carter exclaimed, giggling and laughing as Kara proceeded to follow after Cat who actually handed over Carter’s bag and set Kara’s thin jacket around her shoulders.

“You heard her, we’re good to go, buddy.”

“Nohohohoooo!” He tried to sit up only to feel Kara heft him higher and swing gently which only made him laugh all the more.  

Cat worked her way around the both of them, making sure the coffee maker was off as were the lights before grabbing their drinks and the keys before making a grand sweeping gesture for Kara and Carter to lead the way.

Kara pulled Carter up effortlessly, like a sack of potatoes on her shoulder. She proceeded to bounce down the stairs with him leaving Cat to roll her eyes heavenward as she followed after them.  Austin was already waiting below and relieved Kara of the little boy as well as her bag. Cat glanced at her cell with the slight vibration, eyes narrowing faintly as she looked around their surroundings for a brief moment before slipping into the car beside her son.

The ride into the city was uneventful, save for idle bouts of chit-chat with Carter while Cat seemed to secure a kind of invisible armor around herself.  The last of which seemed to slip behind a mask of impassiveness as they came to a stop just outside the building. She glanced over at Kara who tipped her head at her with an ounce of curiosity before breaking into a full smile with Cat’s wink just as her door opened.

Kara took hold of Carter and exited the car, thanking Austin for the bag around her free shoulder as she followed Cat’s stalking path towards the lobby.  They weren’t exactly late by any means, but neither was Cat the first one in the building this time around. Kara glanced around the lobby, seeing nothing out of sorts aside from the usual as the three of them walked towards Cat’s elevator which was conveniently held open for her by security.

Once the doors were shut Kara couldn’t help but glance over at the other woman wondering if she felt the shift in the air.  Cat ran a hand through the loose curls of her hair before holding Kara’s gaze, confirming the instinctual sensation that something had happened in the span of time either of them had been in the building.

“Is...this what you were talking about earlier?”

Cat shook her head minutely in the negative. “This is something else entirely.” Cat shifted her jaw and Kara actually squared her shoulders as if she were about to play backup to whatever legendary ass-kicking Cat was about to dish out.

The higher they went in the building, the more that creeping intuitive feeling seemed to tighten its hold around them.  It served only to twist Cat’s otherwise good mood while setting Kara on a defensive edge.

“Don’t head to your office just yet.”

As the elevator came to a stop the pair looked at one another again before Cat turned to face the mirrored surface just as it split.  Without hesitation she was already walking across the bullpen, the staccato drum of her heels almost seeming to reverberate through the room until it was completely silent.

Kara was right at her flank proud and protective with Carter set high on her side so that his arm actually rested on her shoulder.  Both of them noticed Karen wasn’t at her desk and that someone Kara didn't recognize was just to the right inside Cat’s office.

Without stopping Cat continued onward, tossing her jacket over the back of the couch as she made her way to her desk and set her purse on its surface.  Kara closed the doors with a small nod on Cat’s behalf, skirting her way to the opposite side of the room while keeping a hold of Carter.

Cat glanced out of the corner of her eye at the bulk of her office employ.  It was if they were all on display no matter how inconspicuous her employees failed to be.  Cat turned her attention to the individual still toying around her bar. Her hands were at her sides, turning around towards her spine before sliding down and resting at her hips.

“Must be good if you managed to get the whole office involved.” Cat’s voice was sharp and annoyed to the point of dangerous.

Sharon turned slightly, her half smile rife with amusement as she looked at the smaller woman then took stock of Kara and her position before looking back to the bar. “They were like that when I got here, save for your assistant.  Flighty little thing. I should ask what you’ve managed to do with that one-”

“Not here to talk about my assistant,” Cat warned.

“Sharptiacus!” Carter struggled free, rushing across the room before body slamming into the woman and hugging her tight.

Kara stepped closer to Cat’s desk but kept a fair distance just in case she needed to move, while Cat let out a gruff exhale through her nose.  She caught movement just outside the office again and followed it with a slow turn of her head towards her office doors. She watched as countless number of heads and shoulders ducked out of view or pretended to go back to work.

“Good morning Professor Carter.” Sharon was quick to pick him up after nudging the lower fridge shut with her knee. As she turned she tossed Kara a water bottle before taking up her own bloody mary. “At least your son has proper manners.”

Kara caught the bottle without flare, cutting her eyes to Cat again before looking at the woman holding Carter as she set the bottle down without opening it.

“That’s rather contradictory all things considered,” Cat drawled. “What’re you doing here Sharon?”

“Come come now, is that any way to treat your fixer?” Sharon booped Carter's nose with a warm smile before letting him slip down into the chair she came to stand beside. Setting the three women in a triangular position to one another with Cat at its apex.

“Fixer?” Kara spoke then, pulling both Cat and Sharon's attention as she looked between them. “How bad is this Cat?”

The woman in question shifted her jaw, fingers flexing harshly against her own hips as she glared at Sharon before easing up on its intensity in order to regard Kara.

“Someone’s been following her, gotten into some pretty compromising places too I might add.”

Cat stepped forward then, cutting Sharon’s line of sight off from Kara as she stared the other woman down. “Don’t.”

Sharon eyed Cat for a lingering moment, her smile still remaining as she shifted her weight to one hip enough to look just past Cat’s shoulder in order to view Kara.  Kara only stepped closer to Cat, barely touching the small of her back out of view.

“Mama?”  Carter’s voice pulled Kara’s attention causing her to look at him after another tense moment between Cat and Sharon.

Kara stepped aside seeing his arms reaching up, where she pulled him to her and wrapped him up.  Sharon’s smirk only seemed to grow while Cat looked as if she could split the earth in two so that it might swallow the other woman up as a result.

“Answers one question I had.”

“Sharon, I swear to God-"

“Calm down Kitty. Heaven forbid I was anyone else with those photos.”

“Ph...photos?” Kara stuttered, easily bouncing Carter on her hip as she looked between both women. “You didn't tell me there were-”

“They're not after you -or- Supergirl.” Cat stressed turning to look at Kara pointedly.

Kara caught the intended subtlety and made a show of looking almost admonished at the other woman before turning aside to whisper to Carter while Sharon observed.

“They're after me, more specifically CatCo.” Cat turned back to Sharon. “And yes I sent that information to you because I trust you, so can you please stop pissing in the corner.”

Kara kissed at Carter's temple before heading for the doors, slipping out without a word and into her own office leaving Sharon and Cat to stare at one another.

“I expected more of a fight from that one-”

“You're lucky Carter was in here or you would have gotten one.”

Sharon took a slow sip of her drink studying Cat where she stood. “You really like her don't you Kitty?”

“I love her.”

“Should make things easier then.”

“I love Supergirl too.”

“Lovely.” Sharon set her drink down with that, crossing her arms over her chest. “Is it an innate thing with you to be so complicated?”

“Sharon-”

“No. You get to listen now, Catherine. This guy isn't fucking around and frankly the higher your profile goes, an acceleration that still astounds me even as we speak, the rougher and more intrusive things like this are going to get. I know you're prepared for that but is she? Is her family? That's not even taking into consideration your superhero friend. Or how the pair of women will react to each other or any of this..." Sharon stepped closer, drawing Cats gaze up slightly.

“You of all people should know that, especially in your line of work. If this was anyone else, a rival, your direct competition you wouldn't hold back. What makes you think anyone else would?”

“I don't publish tabloid fodder.”

“No, you publish what sells. Sex, scandal, the rise and fall of the high ranking man to the unexpected hero. You vet your employees nearly as much as I do a target. Family, friends, jobs, records, financials-ten years or more depending. We're not the only bitches in the business Cat. This individual is after your company and they're going to destroy her and the other one to get it and call it spoils of war. You know this, why haven't you addressed it?”

“It wasn't exactly on the agenda of conversations to have before you've even decided what the hell your relationship even is!”  Cat stepped closer. “Especially after everything else circling around no thanks to you.”

“Again you asked me-”

“I know!” Cat practically growled catching Sharon off guard if the shift in her expression was anything to go on. “I know.” Cat let out a sharp exhale, shoulders actually dropping a bit. “All of this is because of me. My divorce, Supergirl, Lena, Kara...all of it.”

Cat turned looking out over the bullpen once more before leaning back on to the edge of her desk only to have Sharon join her with a less than gentle nudge to make room. The pair sat like that for a few quiet moments, shoulder to shoulder looking out over the horizon of the central office hub.

“Lucky for you… that woman in there is like a damn girl scout.” Sharon offered, scanning over the office fare. “So is her family, well, save for a kind of _misunderstanding_ involving her mother when she was younger but it plays well in her favor should it get brought up again. Though I highly doubt it will.  Her parents are government contractors and we both know how dangerous it is for anyone to poke that bear.”

Cat remained impassive, her gaze settled on the office doors across the way. Kara should be the one telling her these things, with admiration and the kind of enthusiasm one has when introducing the idea of their parents to their partner. Even Cat could find that enthusiasm with her own, even if her stories would revolve heavily around her father.

“Supergirl is different now that she's a sanctioned element of the government and that new UCEO thing. Anyone looking into her is going to have a nice chat with some very convincing men in black.”

Cat let out a faint snort of amusement at that. “They'll just follow Lillian’s example and seek a more direct approach.”

“Which puts us in a reverse situation as far as the flying lass is concerned.”

“Us?”

Sharon hmmed, glancing to her right. “Not what I thought you'd pick out. Yes us. You've got me in the thick of this now. Between Lena and your gentlewomen callers-”

“Honestly, where do you come up with this stuff. Is this what clients find exotic about you?”

“It's my uncanny ability to find practically anything no questions asked. As long as they pay, I deliver. Not much conversation to be had really.”

“Which brings me to my next question. How much?”

Sharon glanced back to the bullpen, watching her sisters' employees like one would an ant farm. “I'm feeling philanthropic.”

Cat laughed, almost mockingly as she looked over at the other woman. “You're serious?”

Sharon nodded, taking the time to look right back at Cat. “You happy?”

Cat's incredulously amused expression fell, features turning back to where she knew Kara was. When she didn't answer Sharon leaned over, following Cat's line of sight.

“Saying it out loud isn't going to ruin it you know.”

Cat drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she caught movement just beyond the doors. “I'm understanding what that word really means, yes.”

Sharon frowned upon seeing Kara emerging from the office across the way, Carter held in her grip as she tried to keep her expression neutral. “Trouble…”

Cat glanced at Sharon with her warning tone, already finding herself moving the instant Kara pushed back into her office. “What's wrong?”

“A-Alex. Something's happened and-”

Cat was already taking hold of Carter before Kara knew what was happening. “Go. Have Austin take you.” She saw Kara start to argue and only stepped closer, ignoring everything else around them as she grabbed the back of Kara's head and brought them together. Kara's hands fell on either side of Cat's features, allowing the other woman to calm the urge to just jump out the nearest window.

_“Have Austin take you away from here until you can get to her on your own faster.”_

“Breathe.” Cat urged, feeling Carter cling to her as well as Kara's shoulder before they drifted apart. “I love you, call me when you can, now go.”

Kara nodded, stepping back reluctantly when all she wanted to do was kiss the words right off of Cat's lips. She felt Cat's hand on the flat of her chest, fingertips digging in firmly in a show of understanding. “I love you too.” Her words were like a prayer before Kara turned and rushed for Cat's private elevator.

Cat barely had time to follow Kara's frame when Sharon came to stand beside her. Both women were focused on the commotion within the bullpen surrounding her employees. By the look of it there was a concentrated group just outside her office having a kind of meeting. Others seemed to follow Kara's retreat and obscure the elevator while another few were, what could only be described as manhandling, one of the senior executives around and between cubicles.

“The f-” Sharon glanced to Carter who was tucked into his mother, "-fruit are they doing?”

“I'm not even sure…” Cat stated cautiously only to watch one Lucy Lane come rounding a corner with a suddenly clear unobstructed path headlong towards Cat's office.

“Christ is that Lucy?!”

“More trouble…” Cat warned as Lucy slipped in a second after.

“Ms. Grant.” She started, all the wind and fire siphoning out of her once she realized she wasn't alone. “I uh, I have some legal things to go over with you concerning the Seraphim incident as well as a few _other_ matters.”

Cat took note that the other individual that had been given the full roundabout through the office floor now looked flustered and even more frustrated now that Lucy was in the office with her.

“Absolutely. If you'll just-” Cat kissed Carter's temple then before gently handing him over to Sharon. “Give me a few seconds” Cat stepped back over to her desk, grabbing her phone and a notepad. “By the way, Sharon O’Connell meet Lucy Lane. She's on loan from her sister via The Planet for a little longer.”


	56. Mind Traps and the Chains That Bind Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara arrives at the DEO in search of answers as Alex wakes up to unfamiliar surroundings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Chups for the beta as always! 
> 
> Looks like we get some proper titles and the like ;)
> 
> Canon-standard violence/mayhem in this one.

Kara landed at the DEO and Winn was already there to meet her.

“I don't know what happened.” He started, already guiding her through the checkpoints headed for the medical sector on the main level. “She came in from her last shift like always, went to Astra's room and the next thing the alarms were going off.”

“Was Astra crashing or-”

“Her neuro activity skyrocketed and it looks like she moved at some point.”

“She woke up?” Kara edged around a passing agent as the two kept walking.

“Not exactly. Astra's got a hold of Alex. When we try to pull or move either of them apart she tightens her grip. Now they're worried Astra could hurt her unconsciously in order to keep them connected.”

Kara stopped hard causing Winn to nearly trip to a halt. 

“Connected how?”

“Aovehm Nahv Zhehiod”

Kara swallowed visibly. She could only imagine what the touch of life would do to Alex while unconscious, especially with someone like Astra in control. Then again maybe she wasn't in control. Her mother and Astra had actively connected in their sleep with some element of awareness between them not comatose like her aunt was now.

“She could kill her. Alex has only connected with me.”

“And Astra with me... Which was intense enough when she was aware of herself.”

Kara started to move again, forcing Winn to catch up in her haste as she barrelled through the main level.

“Hank’s trying but even he can't seem to get through to Alex.”

“That means Astra's in control of her mind. She'll protect Alex from outside influence and he can't read Kryptonian’s”

“Kara.” Jeremiah was the first to reach her as they came around the corner, wrapping her up in a tight hug. 

“I'm sorry.” She uttered already feeling a sickening weight settle in her abdomen.

“Not your fault, or theirs.” Jeremiah hugged her tighter.

“Kara.” Eliza's voice was one filled with relief.

Jeremiah stepped back as Eliza wrapped Kara up. “Tell me you know what's happening.”

“Not enough. I know what Astra's supposedly doing but I can't tell you how or why, or even to what extent.” Kara looked through the frosted glass, seeing how tangled Alex and Astra were before blinking her vision back to normal. “Can I see them?”

Eliza nodded, setting a hand on Kara's lower back as she guided Kara around the corner into the room.

Kara slowed her steps as the nearby agents stepped back with Eliza's look. Both Alex and Astra were a webwork of wires and leads each attached to their own monitors and various other instruments.  Kara came to a stop at the foot end of the bed, reaching out just enough so that her fingertips might touch both women as she scanned over both of them.

Hank stepped closer to Kara, watching her carefully as he set his hands on his waist.

“They’re awake,” Kara whispered. “Astra more so.”

“How do you know?” Hank's voice was gentle despite its low timber.

“I can see it. I'm not sure what that means for either of them…”

“If they're awake why aren't they responding?” Eliza spoke up from behind them.

“They're not awake here.” Kara shifted her visual spectrum back to some semblance of normal. “Astra and my mother used to connect like that in their sleep. It may've been a reflex, muscle memory? I don't know, but if it's anything like the way it was for Kal and I… They're awake in Astra's mind. Difference is I could wake up at any time. Astra being in a coma to start…” Kara let her words drift leaving the implication to roll between the three of them.

“She never responded before now,” Eliza stated after a moment. “With Winn or Alex.”

Kara let out a deep breath. “She might have been fighting to come back.”

“Might?” Hank questioned looking at Kara.

“Or to say goodbye,” Eliza answered.

“I should have been here.” Karas voiced wavered with constrained emotion as she lifted her hand away and glanced towards Eliza. “If she's saying goodbye… Alex…” Kara swallowed hard. “Being human, Alex might not be strong enough-”

“Don't say that.” Eliza warned holding Kara's gaze before looking back to the pair on the bed. “I can't-won’t-”

“We all need to take a deep breath.” Hank supplied, catching sight of Jeremiah just inside the door. “We don't know anything definitive yet. Aside from the fact that they're supposedly awake in Astra's mind. We will monitor them both and work on a viable solution for bringing them back to us here and now safely.”

Kara muttered under her breath in Kryptonese before abruptly moving away and out of the room despite Jeremiah's attempt to halt her progress. Winn was at her side instantly, keeping up as best as he could until even he wasn't sure where in the building they were before he was able to stop the woman.

“Kara it’s not-.”

Kara punched the wall, leaving a heavy indentation within the concrete.

“Kara stop!” Winn waved off an agent that came around the corner before putting himself between the wall and Kara. “You didn't know-”

“I might-”

“Be stuck in that bed just like Alex right now with all of us going out of our minds trying to figure out what was going on.” Winn set his hands on Kara's shoulders and squeezed firmly. “You didn't know this would happen. Kara…” Winn waited for her to look at him directly despite the tears and frustration written on her features. “This. Is not. Your fault."

Kara pulled Winn to her, hugging him tightly. Her thoughts bouncing back and forth between Cat and Carter then back to Astra and Alex.  “It’s always going to be like this isn’t it?” She felt Winn’s arms wrap around her just as fiercely, his chin pressing into her shoulder as if he were trying to crush her in comfort.

“It's gonna be ok. We'll fix it somehow Kara, I know it.” Winn felt the barest ounce of Kara’s shoulders start to relax. “We’re all new to this, and maybe that's the best part."

 

**\-------**

 

Alex shifted in her sleep, a hand coming to her head to fend off the slight throbbing within her skull. She pushed up enough to sit, feeling a slight chill force a shudder through her as the ache in her head started to subside.

“Easy.”

The gentle feminine voice nearby pulled Alex's attention as she cautiously opened her eyes. Her vision adjusted to the warmer sunset tones that bathed the room she was in.

“You seem to have had quite the adventure.”

Alex blinked away the haze, coming face to face with Alura who came close with a small glass of what Alex could only assume was water.

“How...how did I get here?”

Alura stammered slightly, offering the glass to the woman. “I was hoping you could tell me. I found you just outside and brought you here.”

“Outside?” Alex took a sip, finding the liquid sweeter and more mineral ridden than expected. “I didn’t think your matrix allowed you beyond the fortress. How could you possibly have brought me inside?”

“You have no memory of this.” Alura's words were more statement than question.

Alex looked even more confused, glancing about and realizing she wasn't in the fortress like she initially thought. Or if it was, this certainly wasn't a chamber she had been in. She moved off the bed amidst Alura's protests and headed for the nearest window before throwing aside the veil in front of it, only to feel her balance tilt on its axis.

“Where...am I?” Alex gripped the window ledge, her mind trying to catch up to what she was witness to. “What is this place?”

“The Towers of Telle.”

“Not -this- place...” Alex turned, staring at the other woman. “What planet is this!?”

“Krypton,” Alura said cautiously, slowly edging past the bed for fear the other woman was going to pass out again.

“Krypton’s gone….”

Alura held up a hand to show she meant no harm to the other woman. “You need to rest, it was wrong of me to bring you here first. I should have taken you to our heal-”

“It's not possible,” Alex argued pressing back against the window as Alura came closer. “Krypton died...years ago. It’s not... This isn’t happen-”

Alura's eyes narrowed, gaze searching over Alex's frame as she watched her struggle with the reality of the situation. “Where should you be then if this is not Krypton?”

“Not the Towers of Telle…” Alex ran a hand over her face, looking back towards the window and the reddened skyline, architecture she didn’t recognize and a sanity turning array of technology that shouldn’t be possible if this were… “Earth.”

Alura straightened visibly. “-That- is not possible. Earth is far too primitive. Its inhabitants are too underdeveloped for you to even tolerate this place if that is the truth.”

“I'm not lying.” Alex pushed, stepping closer as Alura stepped back. “The last thing I remember was lying beside Astra and then… She wasn’t awake-she moved but-” Alex stammered trying to remember what happened just before she woke up.

“How do you know that name?” Gone was the gentle tone and instead it was replaced with a far more dangerous murmur.

“I know she’s your sister and a General, and my-” Alex felt her chest tighten swallowing back her words. “I told you I'm not lying.”

Alura lifted her chin slightly, eyeing the younger woman for a lingering instant.  The two stared at one another for another second or two before Alura seemed to make up her mind. “She… is aware of you?” Alura cautioned, daring to step ever closer.

Alex nodded faintly as the hairs on the back of her neck felt as if they were called to attention.

“Then she will come for you.”

Alex heard a faint click to her left before lunging forward towards the bed. She rolled over its edge and onto the other side of the floor as the room flashed white for a split second. In the next instant, she was up, headed for what looked like a door only to collide with the slight frame of a young girl who she wrapped up in her grasp as she spun to face Alura and whomever else was in the room.

“Kelex stand down!” Alura shouted as the robot surged forward to intercept.

“Mama?” The girl’s voice was so small, half terrified as she clung to the woman's arms holding her tight like a shield.

“It’s alright Kara.”

Alex felt her blood run cold as the reality of just who she was holding onto registered in her brain. She tightened her hold as Alura began to advance before Alex pulled the girl up against her completely from the ground. “Stop.”

“Let her go. You will not get far I swear-”

“Tell that thing to back off,” Alex shouted, walking backward until her back found a wall. She glanced down either hallway before looking back at Alura and her robot companion. “I mean it!”

Kara started to struggle only to have Alex readjust her hold and pin her arms down further.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” Alex whispered feeling Kara kick out to try and get free.

“Let her go and I will not follow.”

“I’m a friend of Astra's.” Alex tried, feeling Kara go slack almost instantly.

“Stop talking and let her go!”

Alex moved to the left only to feel Kara shift to the other side. On a chance she moved that direction, keeping her back against the wall as she hurried along even as Alura and the kelex unit followed.

“I swear to Rao if you hurt her I will hunt you down and kill you myself.”

Alex held Kara higher, using the girl's hair to obscure her words so that Alura couldn't see them. “I want to help your Aunt….Little One.” Alex felt Kara gasp at that. “Help me please.”

As they came to another junction an alarm sounded and Kara kicked without force against Alex's left.

“Stay right there!” Alex shouted. “Or I’ll take her with me!”

Alura stopped cold, holding a hand up to the kelex unit as Alex shouldered around the corner. As quickly as she could she knelt down, turning Kara around as she let the girl go only to feel a small round disk placed in her hand. Alex reached up with an apology, before uttering the El house motto in Kara's own language and pressed their heads together. Alex felt a rush of information burn through her brain. Reluctant at first before it seemed to pour into her unhindered.

“ _Run!”_  Kara's voice was like a starter pistol in her mind, sending Alex reeling backward in a scramble to get upright as she took off.

Kara watched her round another corner before backing up slowly until she felt the arms of her mother wrap her up and pull her from the ground into her hold.

“My little star.” Alura breathed in a rush of emotion rarely exhibited. The kelex unit took off a second after, followed by a few of the military guild’s guardsmen.

“Justicar Alura, are you and your offspring alright?” Ursa Idr-Zu remained behind from the other guardsmen.

Alura stepped back from the other woman, still holding onto her daughter. Her features were passive as if nothing had actually occurred. “Inform the council of an alien spy. Ensure that she is captured not killed, on my order.”

Ursa’s eyes narrowed faintly before nodding. “Yes, Justicar. I will post a guard-”

“You will do no such thing, Lieutenant Ursa.”

“All due respect Justicar, there has been an attempt on your-”

“There has been no attempt, merely a means of opportunity for a desperate soul. One you should be tracking as we speak.”

The kelex unit returned and with it, Alura removed herself from the other woman’s presence and retreated back within her home. The soldier tracked the two, only to sneer at Kara who was watching her from over her mother's shoulder just as their residential door sealed shut. “Weakling.”

Ursa glanced in the direction of the other guardsmen, certain she was alone before sending a small message to the rightful general of Krypton before setting out in pursuit of her target.

Alura locked the door, priority override only, refusing to put her daughter down. “Kelex, secure message, genetic encryption. Recipient Councilman Jor-El. Inform my brother that I require a meeting. Now.”

Alura moved further into their home until she could set Kara down on her own bed. She followed her daughter down until Alura was eye level with her, searching over Kara's features carefully.

“My little star.” Her voice was soft, welcoming, downright thankful as she reached up to brush the tangle of Kara's hair back from her face.

“I'm okay,” Kara stated, watching her mother carefully. She judged criminals for a living and the one thing Kara never wanted was to be on the other end of her mother's judgment like she was now. “I stayed calm and only fought when I thought I had an opening.”

Alura nodded. “I know Kara.” She smiled gently, the scrutiny of her gaze ebbing. “You were so brave. Braver than me.”

Kara shook her head.

“I threatened to kill her Kara because I was so scared of losing one more thing.” Alura leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to Kara's forehead in a tender display, knowing if she tried to connect with her daughter any other way she would completely overwhelm her. “You most of all my little star. We do not threaten, we do not kill.”

“Unless there are no other options left to us, Rao's blessing upon us that we may never face that challenge.”

Alura smiled faintly at Kara's recital of one of the teachings.

“And if we are chosen to do so, may we be righteous and swift as Rao's own might.”  Kara finished, looking over her mother's features as her color returned to a warmer tone. “You were justified mother.”

“Get changed my Kara, your father will be home soon. I still have plenty to tend to.”

Alex was on a kind of autopilot, running hard and fast having followed Kara's instructions to the letter. Once she had fallen through the small shaft she managed to navigate through the buildings apparent inner workings. Gone were the polished halls and elaborate trappings instead replaced with a much more industrial network of tunnels and access points. Even the few people she managed to pass looked far lower on the ladder of consideration from where she had started.

Despite her surroundings, she knew she couldn't stop, knowing without a doubt from the limited knowledge she had garnered from her sister and Astra that the guards pursuing her would be utterly relentless. Her heart was racing, body covered in grime and sweat as she kept pushing herself towards some instinctual destination.  Alex rounded another corner before ducking into an open channel of a pathway that closed up behind her.

“Shit…” Alex pounded her fist against the panel hearing a dull thump of a sound answering back. She backed up slowly, holding up the small lighted disc Kara had passed off to her to see better in the dimmer light as she turned around in the small space for another way out. Coming to a slow stop at the weathered mark along the floor where she had unsettled a stack of small sealed containers.   

Alex moved closer, seeing a faint line in the structure of the wall. With a hurried effort, she cleared a better path only to discover a metal sigil laid into the crystalline wall near its base.

“Okay… “ She said to herself, hands hastily twisting and knotting her hair out of her face. “Gotta not stick out here.” Alex looked down at herself before stripping off her shirt and turning it inside out in order to conceal the designs printed on the back and the sleeves. Thankful she had worn black today instead of attempting to be more colorful like Winn had suggested.

Looking around further she found what looked like some kind of thermal covering that was flexible enough to pass as a kind of wrap if she draped it around herself right. She turned over a few containers then, grabbing anything she could use as a weapon or means to defend herself that she could hide in her boot or tuck into her belt.  

The sound of muffled voices through the vents in the upper portion of the space kicked her back into gear as she knelt down beside the metal sigil.  Her fingers traced it's edge until she felt a latch she somehow knew was supposed to be there and pulled up. There was a small click followed by the recession of the sigil into the sunstone it was set into.  The stone came alone then, folding in on itself and into the floor forming some kind of ladder down to another level.

Alex dropped down into the shaft, moving down each rung as it formed while the sunstone above her grew back into place, sealing her away again.

 

**\-------**

 

Cat walked across her office with a slow intention, reading over the document in her hand that Lucy had provided her.  Of course, this only seemed to feed the information Sharon had garnered concerning the apparent coup that had seemed to trickle from one of her executives to a second. So much for loyalty. Aside from a few pictures and a singular threat, handwritten which Sharon had found particularly amusing, there was hardly enough evidence to concern any greater authority… yet.  

Which was why Sharon was still around, albeit secluded away within what was normally Kara’s office with Carter.  Her presence and the speculation of who she was had no doubt burned through all floors of the building by this point, as rumors tended to, and for the time being managed to keep the wolves at bay.

Cat turned her thoughts back towards the actual comprehension of the words on the pages in her hand a sharp and rapid tapping on the glass of her office pulled her attention like the crack of a whip.  

Cat’s eyes narrowed dangerously at her assistant who was stretched over her own desk just to reach the transparent barrier. Ignoring the scald of Cat’s gaze, Karen pointed at the woman or more to the screen behind her.  The pair of them jumped in the next second at the sound of something breaking the sound barrier so close to the building.

The documents were forgotten on her desk as she looked at the screens behind it, seeing Kara’s moniker splashing the lower third of every station’s live coverage, including her own. With the press of a button, each screen switched to CatCo’s feed to the entire grid of her video wall.

Cat straightened back as the camera’s caught sight of Supergirl landing somewhere none too far from CatCo.  As the shot widened out Cat felt her heart pound in her chest at the sight of some armored figure with a small group of people on their knees, bound in chains in front of the man.

“If I had known it would be this easy to get your attention I would have done this sooner.”

Supergirl narrowed her gaze, not recognizing the voice as she stepped closer. “Now that you have it, let these people go.”

“Why would I do that?” The man chuckled, pulling at the chains hard enough to send a collective groan from his captives into the air. “I’ve done you a favor, rounding up this fodder.” The man tightened a chain even further causing the individual who was attached it to cry out with an inhumane kind of sound.

“Stop!” Supergirl’s vision shifted and she felt her blood run cold realizing each individual the man had bound to him were anything but human. “What do you want?”

“The great daughter of Justicar Alura, how rich to ask what I want.”

Supergirl scanned the chains in his grasp ignoring the comm in her ear as she stepped closer, watching as the man held the bulk of them higher.  In an instant, a burst of heat vision cut across the expanse severing the greater bulk of them and sending the majority of his captives scurrying once their bond fell away.

In the next instant, the weight of another round of chains closed around Supergirl’s body constricting painfully. With a growl, she pushed from the ground leaving a small crater from the effort as she flipped herself up and around. Her attacker pitched forward releasing his hold only to send out another pair of chains in an overarching whip of motion.

Supergirl crossed her arms over herself, feeling the chains wrap around her arms before she turned her grip and twisted, yanking the man closer to her. He countered easily, shortening the chains and wielding them like the weapons they were, tearing into the ground as he rushed at her.

She caught one around her arm again, twisting it hard before stepping down on its length only to have the second strike across her face sending her to her knees. In the next moment, her hands were gripping the chain wrapped around her throat, threatening to choke the life out of her.  He twisted harder, as she pulled on the tether, dragging him closer in her struggle for more air.

“The last of the house of El, brought to her knees.” He sent out another chain, wrapping it around her torso intent on crushing her ribs as he came closer. “I would have preferred your mother like this.”

Spikes rippled to life across the chains, digging in even further where they were bound around Supergirl’s body as he constricted their length even more. “Seeing as she's dead... you’ll do.”

Cat grabbed for the edge of her desk, finding herself breathing hard as if the air in her office had grown thin.  A wave of nausea struck her blindly, coiling her insides and threatening to turn them out as she stared at the screens in front of her.

“Get up.” She whispered, a hand pressing near her side in an attempt to stave off the wave of nausea. “Come on little bird...get up.”

Tears burned down Supergirl face with her struggle as the last possible breath she could take burned in her lungs. Supergirl pitched back on her heels with the last of her strength yanking hard on the length she clung to in her grasp. She felt the give of his balance then and let go of the stretch of chains she held sending him back from the sudden slack.

Twin beams of searing white light burned across the armor of his chest, turning the metal red. Even when she felt the chain slacken around her she refused to let up, feeling the spikes threatening to tear into her hands as she grabbed them up again. She felt oxygen burn through her body, threatening to make her throat bleed as she found her footing and slowly pushed to a stand never once letting up on her heat vision.

Cat watched as Kara stood, eyes wide as the woman on her screen almost appeared to be roaring as the fury of her heat vision widened until the attackers' entire armor was almost as white as her eyes.  

Supergirl rushed forward, spiraling around the man, chains and all until she ran out of length. Stopping abruptly in front of him she sucked in a deep breath before blasting him in a haze of frigid air.  Where her heat vision had made the armor pliant enough to embed the chains into it the freezing air tempered and cooled the whole of it solid.

Cat watched as unmarked vehicles tore onto the scene sending grit and grass everywhere. Each car unloaded their complement of agent’s some of which she actually recognized from weeks prior. Surrounding and securing the man who was now a prisoner of his own armor.

The camera's moved rapidly, turning up towards the sky as Supergirl took off before anyone outside of the DEO agents could have a chance to speak with her. Cat straightened from her desk, flipping the feed back to the multiple array of stations. Some were already playing back the footage of the fight while others were switching back to their on sight reporters for their opinions.  

Cat let out a trembling exhale, her own adrenaline evacuating her body. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck come to attention and with a deliberate turn looked out over the bullpen to the entire complement of her employees.  Some had sense enough to duck down behind their cubicles but the bulk remained rooted to the spot. Cat squared her shoulders taking a few steps in their direction, watching them collectively hold their breath until she noticed that their line of sight had shifted to somewhere off her shoulder.

Supergirl stood just inside Cat’s office, her suit torn in a few places and still smudged from her ordeal.  Despite their audience, she kept the blue of her eyes leveled on Cat. The other woman’s mask of quiet fury fell away to one of relief colored with an ache Supergirl could feel ghosting across her insides.  

“I thought it was customary to be invited...” Cat stated without waver. _“Are you alright?”_

Supergirl swallowed hard hearing the disjointed statements, one audibly and the other within her mind.  She took another set of steps forward while Cat remained rooted where she stood until Supergirl was close enough to look down at the other woman.  

“You left the door open.” Supergirl tilted her head slightly, aware of the swell of gasps from the other room as Cat reached out. _“I am now.”_

Cat fanned her hand over the sigil at Supergirl’s chest, fully aware of the audience behind her and ignoring it completely.

Supergirl looked down at Cat’s hand, feeling her fingers flex before Kara lifted her eyes back to the other woman. “This is only going to get rougher and more intrusive for you...your family…”

Cat shouldn’t have been so surprised to hear Sharon’s words from earlier that morning echoed back at her but her expression spoke otherwise. “You were the one that flew here.”

“Which I’m not going to do every time, or ever if you want to let Supergirl down gently.  Now would be your best chance to end-”

Cat shook her head slowly. “I can’t, and I won’t.  I love you, -all- of you.” Cat stepped closer while Supergirl remained stock still this time. “The world’s just going to have to deal with that as complicated and obscure as it might seem.”

Supergirl nodded slightly, before reaching up and setting her hand over Cat’s at her chest. “Just like they’ll have to deal with Kara Danvers being with National City’s queen.”

Cat felt the corner of her mouth lift slightly, realizing what the other woman was driving home. Still fully aware of the employee complement that could see them, Cat tugged on the other woman’s hand. She pulled Supergirl to her just enough until they were almost touching despite the mask obscuring the majority of her features.

“I think your assistant just fainted.”

Cat let out a breathless laugh, shaking her head ever so slightly. “Is Alex-?” Supergirl closed her eyes with that and Cat let her words drift into obscurity.  She turned her hand over under Kara’s grip at her own chest, threading their fingers together before squeezing until her knuckles were white. “Get back to her.”

Supergirl flexed her fingers around Cat’s before straightening away. Her feet left the ground as if gravity had never applied to the woman, and she drifted onto the balcony before soundlessly rocketing into the sky.


	57. Cogs of the Red Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More questions arise than answers as Astra and Alex navigate the world they find themselves in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much ChupeyDupey for the beta and everyone holding out for the delay in update. Had some not so fun issues come up but thankfully they've been resolved on an upnote. 
> 
> Mild violence/injury within canon standards

Alura paced across her private chamber within the citadel running the events from hours earlier through her mind once more. The military guild was still on alert and a vague description of the human had been released to all other guilds and through the standard systems. She knew it would only be a matter of time before the woman was caught.

There was a gentle tone at her chamber door and immediately she straightened in case it was anyone other than Jor-El.

“Proceed.”

As the doors opened the broad stature of Jor-El strode into the room. Where most saw pure Kryptonian stoicism and wisdom beyond his age, Alura saw him as a gentle giant hiding behind a mask of duty. Not unlike the rest of those within and surrounding their House.

Once the chamber door was shut she activated another security protocol, sealing the room and obscuring the window from outside view. Another series of codes were put into the panel along her desk before she relaxed enough to signal the man that they were alone and sequestered from the rest of their world.

“So many safeguards, one might think we were being illicit.”

Alura sighed at the man. “Impossible. Unless of course you were here to confront me about the amount of time recently spent concerning me and your lifemate in your absence.”

Jor-El actually smiled, the tension held in his shoulders evaporating as he rounded the edge of Alura's desk. “Lara sends her love and thanks for keeping her company.”

“The two of you always were close enough to be considered the same person at times.”

“Rumors.” Jor-El teased, studying the Justicar carefully. “Is Lady Kara alright?”

Alura took a deep breath inward, eyeing the man before gesturing that the two of them sit. “Shaken, but not as much as I would have considered. The influence of my sister has inadvertently rubbed off on her.”

Jor-El drew his chair closer, leaning forward onto the arms of the furniture while Alura scanned over the one-way window and the city beyond it.

“Did you bring anything back with you?”

“Back with-”

“From Earth.” Alura turned her attention to him fully. “An experiment, a rescue, a pet ? Anything? I know your proclivities Jor-El. You and Lara are testament to that among other things. You have never jeopardized the honor of this house, even when you have skirted the lines of our laws. Bordered on scandal, perhaps.” Alura knew if their world were not in peril said scandals would be of far greater concern than they could ever be now.”

“You make it seem so nefarious. Coming from you I would think you would have embraced those proclivities to some degree. Adapted a few for yourself.” Jor-El sat back with an easy smile. “You, one of Rao’s lost prophecies. At least so I have recently heard from Vedra Rao-Zu “

Alura groaned, sitting back in her chair with an ungraceful flop of her head back over the ridge of the furniture. “Rao bless it, Astra and I are not some lost prophecy for the thousandth time. I though you spoke to them?”

“Regularly. Vedra is convinced. Has been since she pulled the pair of you from the chamber years ago. With her ascension into the head of the Religious Guild-”

“I know.” Alura let out a breath and straightened. “I say it should be considered apocrypha should they even hint of a corresponding canard in those ancient texts.”

“You are deflecting.”

“So are you Jor. I have it on good authority she is looking into a mention for your own miracle.”

“Or treachery, depending on whom you speak with.”

“I am aware. I nearly stripped the rank of a few guardsmen when I overheard them referring to Kal-El as an abomination.”

“Lara told me. Apparently it was something to behold so she says.”

Alura made a face causing the man to laugh. “It garnered me more suspicion than I would have liked. Though it has steered my sister in the direction of those we have all heard whispers of.”

Jor-El nodded, the depth of his mirth receding at her veiled revelation. “I assure you Alura, as my Justicar and my bond-sister, I brought nothing tangible back with me from my journies.”

Alura shifted then, leaning towards him. “Could… one have slipped on board? Hidden away undetected?”

“For three years? I would have introduced them to you.”

Alira sighed, running a hand over her face before standing. “The woman I encountered today, swore with every fiber of her being she was of Earth.”

“So you come to me?”

Alura turned, giving him a stern look.

“There are others who have been to that planet that are visiting our own. Perhaps they misplaced her?”

“How convenient, so close to one of the only relatives known to have a member of their House who has ventured there.”

“You speak of conspiracy my dear sister.”

“Only as I feel I am surrounded by them.” Alura paced slowly. “What is one more during this time?”

“Smoke and mirrors to what we are actually dealing with.” Alura let out a resigned exhale stopping near the window in order to look out over their world once more. “It only furthers the steps we are taking, despite the dangers.” Alura let out another sigh, shifting her focus to Jor-El’s reflection in the glass. “Assuming the council will even listen once we have enough.”

“We will have enough, and should we not, there are other methods to ensure our survival Alura.”

**\-------**

Astra narrowed her gaze at the secure report fed into her display, her jaw shifting with its completion. She drew the hood of her robe further forward glancing down at the small lighted disk that continued to track its counterpart. She rubbed the solid panel of it before slipping it into the hidden pocket near her heart.

She crossed the lower streets of Krypton's civilian districts, while it was a few steps above the unnamed, it still held a relaxed and perhaps truer sense of Krypton itself. Far removed from the hierarchy of houses, councils and guild politics it had always provided Astra with a particular insight to her people that had yet to fail her.

The whispers of a coup while Krypton seemed to be in a state of transition had fueled her and others of her houses to action, however clandestine. The moment she had bested General Zod for the position of Kiladar those whispers became reality. One that anyone who had attempted to provide evidence to the council concerning General Zod’s possible involvement, found an untimely end before completing said task.

A task that she, along with her sister and others of the House of El, had now silently taken up.

Astra meandered through the masses within the market, easily blending in as she perused the wares available. Or so it would appear to anyone who might happen to be tracking her. She had surmised that Zod and his compatriots had begun to suspect her, given her deliberate restructuring of certain guardsmen into other sectors and ranks throughout Krypton. A suspicion that was furthered by the report she was still reviewing in her mind.

Thankfully, her intended target had yet to be provided with his own warning of being compromised, what with his rather lackadaisical demeanor. It was either that, or he was of such an inconsequential significance to said conspirators against the council, he didn't warrant a warning and was to be considered sacrificial for their cause. Were Rao's odds in her favor, she would reach him before any of Zod’s loyalists could carry that sacrifice out.

She knelt down to survey a crate and its contents just as her target turned to scan the area behind him for anyone that stood out. Astra managed to keep him just within her periphery even as she spoke to the kiosk owner about the animal inside. She saw his body flinch and prepared to defend herself until the man actually came running towards her.

Astra stood abruptly, as others in the market shouted or moved aside as the man ran past, with two others fast on his heels. She moved behind the nearest kiosk, snagging one of the support ropes before yanking it around a column and pulling hard out of sight. The rope snapped hard, and as she emerged from the other side of the pillar she noticed one of her target’s pursuers on the ground out cold.

She ducked down a nearby alley then, pulling herself up across scaffolds and makeshift balconies until she was racing across the ledges of buildings and rooftops. Her current vantage gave her an unobstructed view of her target and the one chasing him down. She leapt from one building across another alley in stride, if she were lucky enough she could get ahead enough to intercept at least one of the men.

Clearly her intended was marked for termination, while she may not be able to prevent it, she could delay it if she turned her focus to the one hunting her target down through the streets. She might even get more information out of the hunter than the prey. Thankfully the commotion below was enough to conceal her own pursuit.

She cut across another ledge before skidding to a stop when the next gap proved too wide for her to vault across. That's when she caught sight of a third Hunter, coming in from the opposite direction. She swore under her breath, crouching down in order to swing off the ledge and down onto a lower outcropping. She rolled with the impact, wincing at the fire in her side before she jumped down the rest of the way and cut through a cross alley.

The third hunter crossed just ahead of her as she wove through debris and discarded objects hindering her progress. She rushed around the corner only to come up short. Gone were the hunters and her target was a few feet in front of her braced against the wall. Astra looked around cautiously before stepping closer only to watch the man stumble and collapse to the ground. Blood stained the stone, coloring the dismal grey a bright red.

In a blink Astra bent backwards as a blade cut the air where she had been standing. She twisted under her own momentum, bracing her weight on her hands and sweeping her legs full force into her attacker. She dropped flat to the ground and rolled towards them as another blade clattered into the ground beside her.

Astra grabbed the fallen weapon from her first attacker pitching up on to her knees, sweeping the weapon in a wide arc as she pushed to a full stand. She felt her blade strike bone and was already twisting around to drive the hilt of her weapon towards her second attacker when a bolt of fire tore through her, throwing her trajectory off.

She squared herself despite the pain, holding her new weapon at the ready as the first two attackers helped one another in order to retreat towards the third who stood a few feet away with a pistol aimed right at her. Astra broadened her shoulders, starring the three of them down.

“Kill her,” her first attacker said once he was clear of Astra’s reach. “We will blame him.” The two continued, blending back into the alleys and shadows as the third remained.

The man wiped at his nose, bloodied from impacting the pavement at the start of all this, before raising his head high despite the tremor in his hand. “May Krypton's true general reign.”

Astra flexed the grip around her weapon, her gaze leveled on the barrel of the pistol to try and determine its trajectory. She relayed a silent prayer to Rao that he might grant her the speed to deflect the blast just to survive long enough to notify her sister.

The barrel pitched wide, off balance and completely removed from ever hoping to hit her even if by accident. The blast skirted a foot to her right, scorching the stone nearby. The man grappled the small figure who had rushed him, prying them from his waist and flinging them towards the fallen body of Astra's original target.

He turned the weapon on the interloper before the woman on the ground let out a shout of surprise. He blinked once, confused and numb, looking down at his body where the sword Astra had been holding was now buried in his side. Astra rushed forward, reclaiming the weapon and catching the falling pistol in mid-air before the man even began to fall to his knees.  
Astra didn't wait or falter, securing the pistol to her belt as she grabbed the woman against the wall and pulled her up. Where she had expected resistance she found an arm around her waist and a sure-footed pace despite having collided with the wall. Astra was quick to move, while her new found companion remained silent, knowing the others were not far and the less injured of the remaining pair loyal to Zod was most likely trailing them, after the failure of their third to finish their task.

Astra pulled right, then left, rushing the two of them down another twist of alleys before wrapping the smaller woman up and enveloping both of them in her robes. With a harsh grunt of a sound Astra hoisted them both up and pushed the smaller woman against a small break in the stone.

Moments passed, and just when one would have thought to relax the hunter appeared. Throwing debris and other varied objects about in search of them. With a growl the man swung his weapon into the stone a foot from their concealed crevice lingering to see if anything moved.

Another series of moments passed before the hunter retrieved a small communications device, declaring his targets were gone before looking around one more time until he was informed to return to the citadel. Astra held them both as still as possible until the hunter was gone, easing up enough to scan the area before letting her feet slip in order to drop down to the ground. She held a hand up, allowing the other woman to use her as a brace to step down.

Alex lost her footing and lilted forward off balance, colliding with the much more solid form of the general. She barely had time to take a breath before she felt an unfamiliar trill in her pocket. Astra reaffirmed her grip on the smaller woman, hoisting her against a wall roughly. Astra’s hand rummaged over the other woman's frame roughly until she practically tore the small disk from the woman's pocket.

Immediately Alex was on the defensive, head lifting back and pressing into the wall with the blade Astra held suddenly pressed to her throat.

“Where did you get this?” Astra growled, holding the disk up between them.

“K-kara gave it to me when I said I was trying to help you.”

“After you threatened-”

“I would never hurt her, or you. I swear.”

“You are the Earthen spy.”

“I'm not a spy!” Alex shouted back pushing forward towards the blade giving Astra pause. Alex reached up then, tentatively setting her hand over the growing wound at Astra's side watching the general flinch. “You don't have many other options either.”

Astra tucked the disk away in the same motion of grabbing Alex's wrist, pulling her touch away by force. “I have more than you realize at this point.” Astra glanced down either side of the alleyway. “You would say anything to preserve-”

“I know you consider your little one to be your own daughter at times.” Alex pried her wrist free, placing it right back over the wound with a growl on Astra's behalf. “I know you and Alura were the first twins on Krypton in millennia, that Kal-El is the first naturally conceived child in ages and I know your planet is dying.” Alex carefully urged the blade at her throat down with her free hand. “I know Jor-El and the others of that house are going to send Kara and Kal to -my- planet if the lot of you can't convince your council to act.”

Astra looked struck for a split second as Alex advanced on her.

“I. Am not. A spy.”

**\-------**

Eliza turned with the quiet knock behind her, relief pulling at her chest as she closed the distance between her and Kara. Kara stood a little off balance as Eliza wrapped her up in a hug.

“Are you alright?” Eliza knew it was somewhat pointless to ask, but sometimes that's what mattered, the sheer act of asking.

Kara closed her eyes with her exhale, returning the hug before leaning back. “I'm fine.” Physically anyway, she thought. She squeezed Eliza's arms gently, looking past her to the two still connected to one another. “Any improvement?”

Eliza turned back to Astra and Alex giving a small shake of her head. “Their vitals have changed off and on, but nothing noteworthy, aside from their neural activity. That is in a constant state of-”

“So they're still living in a dream.” Kara interrupted.

Eliza gave a soft sigh, mostly at herself, as she crossed her arms over her chest. She knew she was shielding herself with her clinical and detached demeanor concerning the two prone prone in her care. Without it, she wondered for a brief instant if she would even be able to stand.

As it was, Alex looked worse than Astra. Astra, due to her Kryptonian nature, could be sustained by sunlamps. Alex required IV’s. Currently she was on a standard saline and electrolyte solution to prevent dehydration. Although, Eliza already knew that if Alex didn't wake up within the next seventy two hours they would have to take more invasive measures to sustain her.

Kara wrapped an arm around Eliza's shoulders and squeezed firmly as if sensing her uneasiness. “I… believe, Astra won't take her.” Kara felt Eliza stiffen with her words. “I know she and Alex….” Kara swallowed hard, pulling in a deep breath. “Have been trying to figure each other out. Astra is like me, we’ve spent so much time alone in our minds and Alex has been doing everything she can to help bring her back again.”

Eliza turned her eyes to Kara watching her profile as her eyes turned glassy.

“I don't know if I would want to if that were me, but Astra is no coward. To let herself go like this, is not a warriors way.”

“How do you know she's not fabricating that very scenario in their dream?”

“I don't.” Kara looked at Eliza. “I know Alex is there, wherever there is. If she can understand where they're at, that it's not real…”

Eliza stared at Kara for a moment, finishing the rest of Kara's statement in her mind before looking back at the two women and resting her head on Kara's shoulder.

Elsewhere at CatCo, Cat sat at her desk, going over the fourth draft of CatCo's second issue. She marked through another article before turning to the empty four page slot they had yet to fill. She chewed on her bottom lip a bit, grabbing another pen before marking over the space with her bold handwriting. 'KD, SG, CG -editorial prerogative, relationship piece. -Cat Grant’

She reached over to her phone then, paging her assistant. “Pre-book my private studio space, closed set, I need a list of the top three photographers available along with James Olsen. No date. Open to a moment's notice within the next two weeks. All expenses paid with twenty four hour prior notice clause.”

**\-------**

The chamber they were in was secure and warmer than the outdoor climate Alex had encountered while roaming the streets of Krypton. She wasn't sure how or when they had gotten here. Just that one minute Astra had been nearly dragging her along and the next they were here. It was almost like…

“A dream…” Alex's voice was soft and she saw a small burst of white behind her eyes and the vague murmur of voices she recognized before she shook herself back. She remembered now what she had been doing just before waking up to Alura. She had been lying in bed with Astra who had moved in her unconscious state when Alex had placed their heads together like she had a hundred times now with no result.

This certainly was not something that anyone was aware of, otherwise Kara would have ensured Alex remained at arms length anytime she had been around Astra. Leave it to every member of this family, direct or otherwise, to make a situation that much more complicated. As it was she wondered how much more complicated this current situation would get and if it was a new fabrication of Astra's subconscious, or if she were just some filler role in a predetermined narrative of Astra's memories.

That was something else to consider. Was this Astra's mind just trying to cope with her physical state or something else entirely? She was well aware of the stories and studies of comatose patients. Those that eventually woke up could recall being aware or worse, completely trapped within their own minds with no means of control. She remembered how Kara had told her the worst part about being lost in space had been the absolution of silence. How deafening it could be and how loud her mind could get within it. Even with her cousin's pod tethered to her own, it wasn't until they were free of the phantom zone that Clark aged beyond infancy enough for him to even begin to interact with her.

The greater difference was that Kara was able to wake or sleep at any point in her pod while Astra's experiences in and out of stasis were against her will. Coupled with whatever horrors Lillian had subjected her to for the sake of experimentation may have done to her within her own additional twelve years of hell. Alex couldn't help but wonder just how much control Astra actually had, what with having spent twice as much time in a state such as this than Kara. If she could be injured, could she die? Would this all start over? Would she just wake up?

Alex moved around slowly, deciding that if she thought too much on the matter she might be thrown out of said state she was in. Not unlike looking at a clock once one determined that they were indeed dreaming. She ran her fingers along the nearest wall, feeling the resonant heat coupled with a churning hum of a sound. They were underground, literally. How far she wasn't sure and with another turn she made out various embedded shelves stocked with supplies and what looked like rations.

Alex felt eyes on her, studying her every move as she rounded the chamber and searched over the items lining the shelves along the wall.

“There is food there if you are hungry.” Astra's voice resonated against the warm stone, doing little to soothe Alex's nerves.

Alex glanced over the items in front of her, unsure what was edible and what wasn't. Sensing her hesitation, Astra pushed off the nearby wall, stepped over and plucked an item down before offering it to the smaller woman.

“Thank you.” Alex studied the other woman a moment, tipping her head slightly at the darker portions of her clothing. She held onto Astra's hand and the offered sustenance, lifting her other up to touch Astra's side. The woman tensed visibly and drew herself away, her irritation spreading across her features.

Alex stood her ground, setting the object Astra had handed her back down. The wound had been hot to touch, slick where the fabric had melded with the injury not unlike anything Alex had come across on duty at the hospital. Dream or not, that felt entirely too real.

“You're no good to anyone by being so proud.”

“They will heal.” Astra argued.

“In time, but your people need you before that happens.” Alex could see the lines of pain pulling at Astra's features still. “I am a med-healer. If nothing else let me look at them, please.”

Astra scrutinized the younger woman for a long moment, knowing she was right. Her worry had caused her to let her guard down too much with someone she knew nothing about, save for the fact that they had caused an incident concerning her family. She pulled in a slow breath, as the nagging feeling of familiarity continued to pull at her insides concerning the human..

The short length of a blade sprang up between them and by some miracle Alex didn't flinch. Astra turned the blade on herself, pulling her tunic forward before splitting the fabric with a grimace. Astra left the blade on the nearby counter, twisting the spilt ends of her shirt into her hands and prying the rest of it apart.

Alex swallowed hard at the sound of rending fabric, thankful for the skin tight wrap of Astra's underclothing. Astra's abdomen was exposed as were her shoulders and as the woman started to struggle out of the ruined tunic Alex stepped forward. She spoke without words, taking over and carefully extracting Astra's injured arm from the tattered remnants, leaving the ruined garment on the floor while Astra leaned into the counter’s edge.

“Sit down.” Alex ordered, scanning over the supply shelves for what she could find. Astra backed up a few steps then, slowly sitting on a nearby stool. Her wounds had reopened with her actions and Alex swore under her breath as the Kryptonian just sat there and bled.

“Call my planet primitive.” Alex muttered, setting out her assortment of items on the counter. “Face the wall.” Alex stuck the end of one of the tools she had found inside a small container that read sterilization something or other.

“You are supposed to place your hands inside.” Astra offered flatley, turning with a wince to face the shelves.

Alex furrowed her brow a bit, extracting the tool before tentatively reaching for the container. She looked up once more at Astra who had yet to look away, making sure not to break eye contact with the general in case this was actually a trap. Alex stretched her hand inside, tensing as a warm liquid conformed around her hand before sealing around her skin.

“It is primitive.” Astra spoke again, turning her features to face the wall as Alex sterilized her other hand. “Anything more would give away this position and our place within it.” Astra felt Alex's had touch her arm, gently easing it away from her side. “However, if you are as you say, then it should not be so primitive to you.”

Alex felt her heart clench as she guided Astra's arm onto the counter. “What's primitive, is believing you deserve this.” Alex pushed and adjusted Astra's posture, stretching her side in order to better assess her injury. “This is going to hurt.” Alex warned, setting her fingers against Astra's side along either side of the wound.

Astra merely looked ahead, staying as still as possible even with the frigid chill of antiseptic flushing out the wound. She threaded her fingers together in front of herself, clenching her hands into a solid mass as Alex cleaned her side.

“Breathe.” Alex commanded, pressing a sterilization pad against the other woman’s skin. “Holding it just makes it hurt more.” Alex grabbed for another instrument, holding it like a pen as she delicately moved the pad away.

“You've been hurt enough.” Alex's voice was quiet, mostly under her breath as she methodically mended Astra's side with the mender within the gel-like substance the pad had left behind.

“Do not pretend to know me.” Astra warned, glancing at the woman who flinched with her tone but kept working just the same.

Alex placed another sealed panel over her work, pressing carefully despite the sting of Astra's words. Alex had to remind herself that this Astra was not the one that she was even minimally familiar with. This was the Astra of Krypton, not even Astra really but the General. Cold, calculated, alien…

Not so far removed from the woman Alex had come to know, but enough that they were nearly two separate people.

“Turn back to me.” Alex peeled the second skin over her own hands off, watching it curl, melt and disintegrate into nothing all on its own. That would be incredibly useful back home. She coated her hands again and stepped into Astra's space where she sat.

Alex gently prodded Astra’s shoulder, catching the muscles in her neck fluttering but not much else movement wise. “Can you lift it?” She glanced to Astra who rose a single eyebrow at her as she straightened and squared her shoulders a bit. Alex kept her hands near, looking over the singed skin and the damage to the surrounding tissue.

“I know when fueled by adrenaline, a person can do anything. Now that we’re settled, can you lift it?”

Astra shifted her jaw visibly before looking beyond Alex as she tested her shoulder with a slight stretch to the side, sending fire across her chest and back. She tucked her lips in absently before pulling in a slow breath as she raised her arm out to the side in an ‘L’ shape. Astra pushed to lift it further, closing her eyes she almost absently tipped her head towards her shoulder with a wince.

Alex watched as Astra’s elbow went up higher than the rest of her arm as if her shoulder locked up while her hand clenched into a fist. “That’s good.” She said carefully, half expecting the other woman to growl at her.

Astra lowered her arm carefully, adjusting it back and rolling the joint with another flutter of pain across her features as she looked pointedly at Alex.

“It could be fused or completely useless. Pain is good, that means you have feeling, movement is good that means you have some range we can work with.” Alex flushed the wound causing Astra to hiss at her as she cleared away what she could.

“We can work with that too.” Alex assured with a dry tone, placing the gel-like dermal pads across the wound.


	58. Breathing is Easier at Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another day comes to an end, and with it, more conversations lead down unexpected avenues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to ChupeyDupey for the betas roughly 40 more chapters to 100 right?? ;)  
> Thank you all for bearing with me on this random lack of posting lately. Life is funny sometimes when it comes up in unexpected ways. Anyhoo here's the next bit and hopefully more to come sooner rather than later.

Kara keyed into her apartment, instantly dropping her bag to the floor and hanging up her coat. She shut the door absently, locking it with a flick of her hand, before heading towards the fridge only to come up short.

Cat was seated in the floor, all manner of paperwork and layouts spread out across the coffee table and nearby surfaces. The light was just bright enough while everywhere else in her apartment was dark. Kara tipped her head, slowly stepping over just as Cat marked through another sentence and circled another, making a small note.

Cat took off her glasses after another second of Kara staring at her.

“You're here,” Kara said quizzically, watching Cat stretch a bit.

Cat leaned back against the couch, setting her arms on the couch cushions behind herself. “I am.”

Kara moved closer, folding herself onto the couch and close enough for Cat to look at her comfortably.  

“Should I not be?” Cat questioned as she relaxed her arms and laid her head back on the cushions looking over at the other woman.

“I…” Kara let out a deep sigh she hadn't realized she was even holding. “Didn't expect you to be is all.”  Kara looked around before turning back to Cat. “How?”

“Another of Sharon's hidden talents,” Cat explained with a ghost of a smile. “There's leftovers in the fridge,” Cat offered while her smile showed with Kara's reaction. “Carter's asleep.”

Kara leaned over then, hooking her fingers underneath Cat's chin in order to tip her features far enough to ensure Kara kissed her suitably.

Cat hummed softly, the sound resonating between them like a purr. Fingers found their way into Kara's hair, nails grazing the other woman's scalp. Kara reached down, wrapping an arm around Cat's body as she hoisted her up effortlessly onto the couch. Cat pushed with her legs in a vague effort to help as Kara stretched the two of them out across the cushions. Kara's weight settled over Cat's body as she wrapped her arms around the breadth of Kara's shoulders.

She felt the pressure of Kara's hips roll down against her own in the next second. Cat caught the soft whimper that broke past the other woman's throat and sensed the overwrought efforts of Kara's fingers against her waistband. Cat kneaded at the back of Kara's neck tenderly, working her other hand down the woman's body until she snagged her forearm and halted her actions. Kara broke away with a small pant, lips already forming an apology that Cat hushed with the press of her fingers.

The two looked at one another for a lasting moment, until Cat reached up and gently pulled Kara's glasses off with the curl of her fingers.

“You never have to apologize Kara.” Cat folded the object before tossing it aside on the table nearby. “Not for what you might want or need, especially from me.” Cat's fingers traced Kara's features with an affectionate reverence, settling back at her mouth once more. “Talk to me, little bird.”

Kara pressed soft kisses against Cat's fingertips, bracing herself on her elbows as she wrapped Cat up from underneath. Cat brushed Kara's hair from her face before drawing up enough to press their foreheads together, only to have Kara tip her head back out of reach.

“What's happened with Alexandra?” Cat questioned softly as she relaxed back into the couch completely, having already suspected Kara wouldn't have bonded with her even before Cat had tried.

“Astra.”

Cat threaded her fingers through Kara's hair, studying her features openly until the other woman pushed against the couch arm, forcing her body further down Cat's own. Cat adjusted her legs, fitting Kara between them easily.  The other woman shifted as Cat lifted her hands aside, waiting for her to settle. Kara encircled her arms around Cat's body again, nuzzling down against the woman's chest with a deep sigh.

With that and the gradual relaxation of Kara's body against her own, Cat laid her hands along Kara's sides and waited patiently for her to continue.  Kara lingered in the quiet, turning her focus to the rhythm drumming away against her ear until she felt she could breathe properly once again.

“Astra connected with Alex while she was still unconscious,” Kara explained, peering blankly out at the night sky. “Neither of them are waking up and when anyone tries, Astra only holds on tighter.”

Cat wove her fingers up and down the length of Kara's body, letting the emotions coloring Kara's words seep into her.

“You're worried she's making a last stand,” Cat said delicately, allowing her eyes to close as she soaked in Kara's presence. “As if she's determined that she won't recover and is somehow attaining an honorable end. With Alexandra as her witness.”

Kara didn't have to nod but she did anyway, tightening her arms around Cat moreover. “The whole time I was here trying to make sense of this world as my own, she was trapped-”

“With Lillian.” Cat finished with a coarse edge. “I'm sorry Kara. I know I shouldn't apologize for that... but I am.”

“Not your fault Cat.” Kara pulled in a deeper breath, nuzzling in further.

“What can I do?” Cat whispered after a lengthy sequence of heartbeats between them.

“You already have. You're here.”

“I'm here. I will always be here Kara.”

“I know.”

  
**\-------**

 

  
Lena flopped down onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling with a huff. “Is there no way to file all this anonymously or something? Silently take control or-”

“Yes, and no,” Sharon answered after a sip of bourbon. “Ultimately it still makes you responsible for anything that they do. Being privately owned, there's no board to contend with, however, your father's Will would have to be verified and validated. Legally, current ownership would have to be notified but that can be worked around to a point. Although any contractors or subsidiaries etcetera, etcetera, would have to be informed so that they could make appropriate decisions to renegotiate whether or not to stay involved and so forth and so on.”

“And if I just sell it?”

“Same thing. More paperwork for you and you would have to negotiate all the same things but on a larger more complicated, and very public scale.” Sharon stepped over, sitting on the edge of the bed. “You're kind of fucked any way you look at it.”

“So reassuring.”

“I try.”

“I get why people hire you.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“You're straightforward, despite skirting around the law where it serves you.” Lena propped herself up on her forearms. “Thorough and a genuine pain in the ass who makes nothing personal.”

Sharon grinned looking at the other woman.

“So why make it personal now?”

Sharon rose a high brow.

“With my father, Aunt Kitty,”  Lena tipped her head to one shoulder. “With me?”

Sharon studied Lena for a long moment turning away to look out the nearest window. She shifted her jaw a minute in thought before finishing her drink with a heavy swallow.

“Good business.” She set the glass down on the nearby dresser. “Good money.”

“Except with me.”

“Not true. You have plenty or will. You've made up your mind.” Sharon answered, waiting for an attempt at an argument from Lena. When none came Sharon smiled to herself unseen by the other woman. “You're just trying to work through the logistics of it all now. Including a way to tell Cat and apologize to her for the way you feel you've gone about it all.”

Lena narrowed her eyes a minute, staring at Sharon's back. “That might explain why now. It doesn't explain why back then.”

“Of course it does. Your father paid quite well-”

“He did or she did?”

Sharon turned back to the younger woman with that question.

“My mother was already gone when you found me, I was in foster care.  Had I been left there-”

“You'd be better off?” Sharon challenged.

“Maybe.”

“Given your upbringing, you'd probably be a nun.” Sharon mused.

Lena made a face before sitting up and moving closer. “Who was it?”

“Your father.”  Sharon held Lena's gaze for a long moment, impressed by the lack of waver in the other woman's stare.

“Why?”

“He honestly loved your mother. Just as honestly as he loved your brother.” Sharon was the first to look away, recalling memories of Lionel and his orders back then to find Lena at all costs. “He lost your mother and that should have been enough. When he finally understood that he had lost any hope of Alexander being his son, he came to me to find you.”

Sharon drew in a deep breath then, easily feeling the weight of unanswered questions brewing in Lena's mind. “Then everything happened with your Aunt and Lionel's death. Then you were gone.”

“Lex isn't my father's son?”

“By blood yes. You're related through Lionel. What I meant was, Lillian.” Sharon's voice turned sour. “She managed to turn him against Lionel. Make no mistake, your father had plenty of faults. He could be cruel and cold, challenging and abrupt but he always stood by his decisions. Good or bad. He took responsibility, he never skulked about or hid behind the shadows of others.” Sharon let out a soft sigh. “He left your mother before he knew about you, for his son’s wellbeing.”

Lena studied Sharon's frame for a long moment, chewing on her bottom lip in thought.

“Ask your questions,” Sharon said calmly. “I don't know if it's the hour or the company but I'm feeling chatty.”

“Did you… have an affair with my father?”

Sharon smiled with reserved amusement, looking over her shoulder at Lena. “Might seem that way.”

Lena rose a high brow still waiting for a more in-depth answer.

“No. We were strictly business associates.”

“You were wearing a police uniform when you returned me. That I remember. Were you on his payroll or something?”

“I was a police officer then, hence the uniform. Though I'm surprised you recall it.”

“Makes an impression on a five-year-old.” More than Lena was willing to admit honestly.

“I wasn't on his payroll. Not until a couple years later.”

Lena continued to worry her bottom lip as Sharon elaborated in obscure, generalized responses. Her own mind putting puzzle piece after puzzle piece together into an image that only continued to grow larger with every passing week. “When I was sent away, you followed, didn't you?”  Sharon's lack of a response spoke volumes, provoking Lena to scoot closer.

“My father made sure you did, even after he died.”  

Sharon rose a brow at the younger woman, scrutinizing her features. “Who said it was just your father?”

Lena's brow furrowed in uncertainty while Sharon turned further towards her.

“Even in death, he was quite persuasive.” Sharon offered Lena a soft, genuine smile, devoid of her usual aloofness. “Kitty just happened to drive it home at the time. Not to speak for her, but I know under a different set of circumstances you'd be calling Adam your brother over Lex.”

 

**\-------**

 

“I don't know what else to tell you J’onn.”

“It just feels like the quiet before the storm, Diana.”

The woman smirked faintly from her seat within her office at Metropolis’ DEO. “It's far from quiet. Ever since that press conference we've been inundated with people from both sides. About as much as you seem to be dealing with yourself if the news reports are anything to go by.”

“You know what I'm talking about.”

Diana let out a slow breath, making a slight face at the man seated at his own desk across the country from her. “I do, and I'm not ignoring it. However, as long as they're silent and we continue to monitor them as much as we're able while the world gets used to this concept, I can't worry about the Luthor's beyond the periphery.”

Hank let out his own sigh, crossing his arms over his chest.

“How are Astra and Alexandra?”

The question only made his expression darken. “No improvement.”

“If I knew of anyone who might be able to help-”

“They'd be here already.”

Diana nodded.

A knock sounded at the door, causing Diana to conclude the conference call with a quiet goodbye as Hank looked up towards the sound.

“It’s open.”

“You wanted to see me, uh sir?” Winn asked apprehensively, slipping inside the office.  He took a slow look around, making a note of the lack of personal touches other individuals managed elsewhere throughout the facility.

“Have a seat Winslow.”

“J-just Winn is fine.” The young man offered as he turned his focus back to Hank while rounding the closest chair opposite the man’s desk. “I prefer it actually.”

“Winn,” Hank corrected offering the young man a small smile to try and ease his discomfort. “In this instance, or any others from here on out, please call me J’onn.”

Winn nodded, straightening his shirt as he leaned back into the cushion of the chairs. “Have I done something…-”

“No, not at all.  Aside from the extraordinary additions you’ve made to various teams and other areas of this facility. Nothing wrong or inappropriate I can assure you.”  Hank stood then, retrieving a file folder from the nearby credenza before taking the seat beside Winn. “You’ve become quite valuable to this organization and after a few inquiries, a few of us decided this needed to be done.”

Winn looked confused but took the file anyway, opening it up on his lap.  Instantly he recognized his own birth certificate and a multitude of legal documents pertaining to him and his records throughout his time before and during foster care.

“There are a few forms in the back that require your attention, nothing immediate. Certainly not anything you need to decide on today, but you should review them.”

Winn looked over at the man, studying J'onn's features openly, knowing his own thoughts could be read before flipping through to the end of the stack.  The seal of the President stopped any further progression, eyes already scanning over the finitely typewritten document. Words like partial emancipation, protected asset and other choice phrases concerning his contracted employment as a representative of the United States jumped out at him.  As did the signatures of the President, Vice President and Secretary of State with a blank space for his own signature to reside just beside them.

Winn flipped to the next sheet, examining over the first page of a large packet of information.

“I wasn’t sure if my petition for guardianship would hold, given what I am. Just to be certain there would be no concerns or confusion-”

“Jeremiah and Eliza have already signed it…” Winn’s voice was barely a whisper, his attention turning to his left where J'onn remained.

J'onn nodded with a shade of a smile. “As have I, all contingencies covered.  Usually, this takes far longer through proper channels and the court systems but Secretary Marsdin felt you’d been through enough already. On top of what you’ve contributed to this facility in order for you to continue, assuming you’d like to, this was the next proper step.  That and the backpay for the time you’ve spent here so far.”

Winn looked back to the papers then, flipping through them and seeing indeed that all three of them had signed and initialed where required and all that was left was for his own signatures to be applied.

“I have a place in the city nearby, a spare room you could make your own if you want to continue here. Although the Danvers’ wanted me to reiterate to you that they also have a home in Midvale that’s just as open and available to you and whatever you decide to do with your future from here out.”

“Wh...why aren’t they-”

“They didn’t want to overwhelm you any more than you seem to be, and they’re still trying to work out what exactly is going on with Alex and Astra.”

Winn nodded silently, his head bobbing with an automatonlike motion.  The words on the pages blurred and rippled as Winn swallowed hard before closing the file.  He sat like that for a long moment before side glancing at J'onn. The man gave him a comforting smile before setting a hand on Winn’s shoulder and squeezing with a reassuring grip.

“As I said Winn, take your time. This is your choice, even if you don’t sign anything. We just wanted you to know we care, and that you’re a part of this obscure family one way or another.” J'onn affirmed.

  


**\-------**

  


Kara opened her eyes slowly, the soft drum of Cat's heartbeat still thumping against her ear. What she hadn't counted on was the small weight pressing into her shoulder that belonged to the youngest Grant who was staring at her in the darkened room. She reached for him gently, smoothing her fingers through his hair.

“Hey buddy,” she whispered. “You ok?”

Carter nodded then looked at his mother and back to Kara. “Momma sleeps, shhh.”

Kara nodded before floating just enough to ease off the other woman and settle beside Carter on the floor. He giggled into his blanket then, crawling into her lap eagerly.

“Sing Mama. I not get my song for sleeps.”

Kara chuckled quietly, adjusting his position in her lap until they were both comfortable again. She rocked back and forth gently, her words whisper quiet as she sang the gentle lullaby her mother had before to him. He sang along sleepily before humming and eventually growing silent save for deep, languid breaths letting Kara know he was asleep again.

“You've connected with him too haven't you?” Cat's voice was at her ear, just below a whisper, almost like a thought.

Kara nodded in response. “I didn't realize  what I had done until later and I haven't for a while now.”

“That's how he knew who you really were before now.”

“Yes.”

“How he knows your language.”

“Yes.” Kara turned enough to look at Cat, searching out her features. “He's young enough, he… he’ll forget after a while.”

Cat curled towards the two of them, head resting on the bend of her arm. “What… if I said it was ok? To connect with him like that?”

Kara sucked in a deep breath, holding Cats gaze for a long moment before gazing back at Carter's sleeping form in her arms. “I'd have to think about it,” Kara said honestly. “I… I wouldn't want to hurt him or confuse him if something happened between us.”

“Worried about my track record?” Cat mused softly.

Kara half smiled, looking back at the woman. “No. I'm more worried about something else happening. That, and, connecting to him so young might bond him to me even more than he already is.”

Cat reached up then, running her fingers through Kara's hair affectionately. “He loves you.”

Kara nodded faintly. “I love him too.”

Cat eased Kara's hair aside, placing a feather light kiss to the side of her neck. “I know, and that's ok by me. I want you to know that.” Cat shifted, scooting closer and propping her head on her hand. “I'm not asking you to make any kind of decisions or anything, I'm just telling you, it's ok.”

Kara leaned down enough to place a soft kiss against the crown of Carter’s head, letting her features linger as she drew in a deep breath, filling her senses with him.

Cat watched the two with a tender smile, her fingers still toying with Kara’s hair. “We should go to bed, still have a few hours of sleep left.”

Kara tipped her head into Cat’s touch in acknowledgment before easily pushing to a stand, taking Carter with her before turning to help Cat up.

“I’ve got it, get him settled while I clean up out here.”

Kara adjusted Carter in her arms, stepping away and towards Alex’s room where Carter’s bed was set up.  Cat sat up slowly, stretching the kinks out of her body as best as she could before gathering all manner of paperwork and layouts into some semblance of organization.  The more detail-oriented part of it could wait until the morning and with a short stop at the fridge, she made her way into Kara’s room.

Cat set her shoulder against the doorjamb, watching with an appreciative tip of her head at Kara’s exposed back and the spread of muscles that moved under her control as she shrugged into a thin shirt and began to tug it down.

“All your layers and your cape don’t do you justice.”

Kara turned just in time to catch the bottle of water hurled at her while Cat made her way around the bed and drew back the covers.

“Are you referring to my back or my-”

“Oh all of the above,” Cat slipped into the bed, adjusting her pillows as Kara climbed in beside her. “And below come to think of it.”

Kara shook her head with a small smile, pulling the other woman to her. She held Cat close for a second, nosing her features before touching their foreheads together. Cat pulled in a deep breath, her arms tightening around Kara as she held her closer before letting out a gratified sigh.

“ _Hi…_ ” Cat’s thoughts were soft and fleeting, far more in control than Kara remembered her being from the time prior.

“You’re adapting,” Kara whispered, feeling Cat nod against her before the gentle wave of emotion spilled across her senses. The sensation pulled a soft sigh from Kara’s lips as she nuzzled Cat lovingly.

“Is that bad?” Cat questioned with a wary tone on a whisper instead of a thought, feeling Kara’s response before she spoke.

“No, just… unexpected, and not at the same time.” Kara let her body relax, shifting enough until they were both comfortable on their sides facing one another.

“Should have warned you about underestimating me.”

“Especially when you put your mind to it.” Kara finished, threading her fingers through Cat’s hair and kneading at her scalp gently. “I underestimated the both of us. This... bond, our connection isn’t supposed to be like this. Even on Krypton, it wasn’t ever _this_.”

Cat hugged Kara to her once more, warning her of their separation in thought alone before she drew her features back enough to see Kara properly.  “Maybe it’s one more thing? Being here on Earth versus Krypton?”

Kara shook her head minutely, only now opening her eyes to search out Cat’s own. “I’m not so certain of that.” Kara drew in a darker breath then, tracing the side of Cat’s face with her fingertips.

“You believe someone in your family did something to you.” Cat’s voice was reserved as she watched Kara, taking note of how she barely reacted to Cat’s statement.

Kara still heard the barest whisper of Cat’s thoughts despite their immediate separation.  She trailed her fingertips down Cat’s jaw, whispering them across the column of her throat until a soft hum of a purr resonated between them.

“Altering the matrix of any child was forbidden.”

“So was having a natural child, but your cousin seems to have defied that.”

Kara searched Cat’s eyes, realizing exactly how much Cat was processing through their bond. Her mind supplied her with thoughts of her Uncle and Aunt, how interconnected they were before shifting towards Astra and her own mother and the ease of communication and simple unspoken knowing those members of her family had shared.  

“You’re not going to break me,” Cat whispered, pulling Kara’s attention back to her directly. “Just like I’m not going to break you.”

Kara’s brow furrowed a moment, confusion etching her features as Cat scooted closer.

“This isn’t a one-sided exchange Kara.  I just think you’re more in tune with what I’m discovering because it surrounds so much of where you came from and what you are.  Things you’re trying to rediscover through this lens as opposed to the eyes of your younger self.”

“I don’t-”

“Why do I hate watermelons?”

“Because you craved them nonstop when you were pregnant with Adam.” Kara fired off without pause only to blink in surprise at her response. “You ate them with everything… for months.” Kara made a face as if recalling the memory like it was her own.

Cat chuckled softly, watching Kara’s response.  Only to follow her expression as it shifted into another spectrum of disbelief.

“You… you really want…?”

Cat rose an eyebrow at the other woman, setting a hand against the flat of her chest as she observed all manner of emotions filter across her features. “What Kara?”

“I thought you just wanted to appease that board member that's threatened CatCo…” Kara swallowed thickly. Whether from the sudden kick start of her emotions or the actuality of her agreement of what had spiraled through her mind on the edge of Cat's thoughts, she didn't know. “You want to do an entire piece in your magazine on us?”

Cat smiled brazenly, flexing her fingers against Kara's chest. “I was intending on asking you what you thought over dinner. If it was even feasible for you to be in two places at once somehow. To protect you and Supergirl and maybe publicly take myself right off the market, so to speak.”

Kara pulled Cat to her, kissing her breathless until Cat rolled on top of her enough to break them apart. “The gala was one thing that was private and discreet in its own way.” Kara reached up, holding Cats hair away from her face in order to stare at her.

“You said it, today in my office. You aren't afraid. People will come after me and after you because of who I am and because of what you are. I don't want to see those pictures splashed across some tabloid fodder. For people to scandalize me and my nanny or Supergirl and the Queen of National City. Not without my say, -our- say in it first. I want them to see you, this you like I do as much as I want them to see Supergirl and that other persona of mine.”

Kara searched Cat's features, feeling her own heart racing away in her chest.

“You're not a dirty little secret Kara. You're my...” Cat searched Kara's eyes, words effervescing to the surface but none seemed adequate enough.  

“Daogh’zhaol…”

Kara felt her breath catch with the words spilling from Cat's lips. She drew the other woman back to her, nosing the side of Cat's own as their lips barely touched.

“Te Daogh’zhaol…” Kara's voice was rich and heady, like velvet coated thunder against Cat's mouth.

Cat tasted the words as they filled her, sending little trickles of sensation across her spine as she breathed them in before closing the sparse gap between them.

  


**\-------**

  


“Alekszandrra.” Astra's voice sounded far away, rough and uneasy with the structure of vowels and consonants that comprised her name. Alex heard it again with the alien inflection that belonged to the Kryptonian before startling awake. Gone was the small room they had been in underground. The once dark and cave-like surrounding had been replaced with a much higher vantage with an outlook exposing the totality of Krypton's skyline.

Definitely a dream.

Alex couldn't recall their movements, just that they were again in some other location without explanation. She turned and pushed to sit, discerning she was on a much softer surface. Looking down at herself she also came to realize she had changed clothes. She pulled at the thin robes, confirming her own earthly vestments were still on underneath before looking up at Astra.

“Better to disguise you with, should we be seen,” Astra resolved before walking away. Her own attire was altered, where flowing robes had been Astra stood in a bodysuit Alex was more familiar with. Her house crest was just over her heart and her shoulders were armored along with other portions of her body that were no doubt considered weak points.

“I need your help.” Astra allowed as Alex moved to the edge of the bed. “You are familiar with Kryptonian custom, and I am... having difficulty getting the proper angle.”

Alex watched as Astra came closer, handing her a thin metal comb. Confused, Alex stared at it a moment before looking up expectantly. Astra reached up then, fingering the warrior braid Alex had managed with her own hair.

“Someone taught you this.” Astra let the length of Alex’s hair slip from her grasp.  “Can you follow proper instructions?”

“I can try.” Alex offered as Astra pulled a chair over and sat.

“Start at the sides, seven strands each, working close to the scalp and around the ears towards the neck.”

Alex stood blinking for another moment or two before moving around Astra’s rigid frame.  She pulled in a slow breath, working out in her mind the segments of hair she needed before threading her fingers through them on Astra’s right side.  It was like suturing, proper technique when applied with the correct motion and it would just start to flow. She remembered what Kara had told her, however brief before the gala, before any of this, and as she worked, her mind effortlessly supplied the gaps Kara hadn’t filled with a muscle memory she couldn't recall having prior to now.

“Has something happened?” Alex questioned absently, knotting the strands in order for them to retain their weave before she moved to Astra’s left side.

Astra remained absolutely still, her focus leveled ahead of herself as she tried not to detour her thoughts to the woman behind her and the dexterity of her fingers through her hair. Aside from Kara, only Alura had done this particular honor. It was something that had struck her the moment the idea for Alexandra to carry it out had filtered into her mind. Knowing she couldn’t approach her sister now, not with the human under her... protection.

That thought had turned her mind over even further.  The instinctual trust Astra had found herself willing to place upon the familiar stranger.  A trust that had been further rooted with Kara’s spy beacon and coupled with dream-like memories of a time and place she herself could not rightfully recall yet knew them to be bound in some element of reality.  

It was as if she existed in two places at once.  Not just places but timelines. Add to it the undeniable recognition of this particular human, despite how out of place she seemed now. Astra had found herself inexplicably drawn to her as flashes of a life she had yet to live continued to plague her mind and how nearly every time, this Alexandra had been there.

Astra turned her thoughts aside as she felt Alexandra brush the side of her throat. “Move inward, another set on either side that merge together in the center.  Do not complete the braid down the center as it will be added to. Five strands each.”

Alex let out a small sigh with the instruction versus an answer to her question. She bit into the comb, making sections once more through Astra’s hair as if she did so on a daily basis.

“Leave the white alone for now,” Astra instructed with a slightly softer tone. “Your insight, into my world is truer than you realize.  The council must be made to listen before it is too late for Krypton, but they will not so long as those who would seek to overthrow them continue to work in the shadows. It makes them uneasy and unwilling.”

Alex gently tipped Astra’s head forward for a better angle, twisting the strands firmly between her fingers. “Meaning?”

Astra let out a faintly annoyed sigh, whether from the manipulation of her head or the singular question was anyone’s guess.

“I am going to expose those who reside in those shadows.”  Astra let out a growl as her head was pulled back like the reigns of a H'Raka.

“Those loyalists had no reservations about attacking you. Even killing you. You’re your whole world’s protector and you’re just going to what? Walk up in some council chamber and hope for the best?!” Alex twisted the length of hair in her hand, moving around enough with the stretch of her arm to try and look at the other woman directly.  “They’ll kill you.”

Astra turned her head with a small wince of discomfort, glaring up at the other woman before reaching back and fishing her hair into her own grasp in order for Alex to let go.  Once she was free enough she righted her features and stared up at Alex with an unflinching sense of superiority. “They may try, but they will have to do it in front of the council. I did not have proof before, I do now. With their own weapon.”

“They will betray you, Astra. This... there are more than just a handful of those loyalists. You have to know th-”

“Loyalists to Zod’s cause threaten my people, threaten our ways, threaten Rao. Taking up with him, to defy everything that we are is as if they are drawing a line in the sand.  It cannot go unanswered.”

“Astra-”

“I am Kiladar!”

Alex straightened with the other woman as she stood with her proclamation.  She rooted herself to the spot and refused to look away even if she had to look up at the other woman to maintain it. Astra’s chest rose and fell visibly with her fury and the faintest spark of something else blossomed in her chest when Alexandra refused to back down.

Astra knew what would happen, had ever since she had heard the growing whispers of guardsmen questioning her true right as Krypton’s General after she had defeated Zod and even before then. It was why she had married Non, by the suggestion of the council, prior to any of this. Through him, she had found the truer depths of this plot. It was why she had secluded herself from her friends and family. Why she herself had gone into the shadows and why she was so willing to sacrifice herself.

“I am Krypton’s aegis. With their actions, they have challenged me. To challenge me is to challenge death itself.” Astra slowly sat back down, gaze never wavering from Alex as she did so.  “If I cannot defy it, then I deserve it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation: Daogh’zhaol - Bond Mate


	59. Do Kryptonian's Dream of Human Sheep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex becomes far too involved with the dream Astra is reliving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Chupsterlicious for the betas! ;) 
> 
> This chapter is a bit rough with canonical violence and similarly themed situations around that violence. 
> 
> WOOO I listened to [Audiomachine - When It All Falls Down [GRV Extended RMX] on repeat ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihiRcSzpVOI) for this little tid bit.

Lara turned as the door opened not a second too soon. Instantly she dropped to the ground, leaving Ursa to stand weapon still raised to strike Lara as Astra ushered Alex behind her. With a blink she was en guard, ceremonial stave poised as the guardsman leapt forward with a shout. Her victorious expression drained into shock when Astra's weapon failed to break as it should have.

“Impossible…”

Astra swept the staff around, discarding it's carved ends with a clatter, revealing a twin bladed staff. “Traitor,” Astra growled, spinning the lethal object in a wide arc that Ursa barely dodged. She stumbled back and off balance, twisting out of the way of another attack as Lara groaned painfully.

Alex rushed aside, sliding across the floor, covering the prone woman.

“I have grown weary of your ilk!” Astra leapt at the other woman who again twisted aside only to scream out as Astra struck her across the back, splitting her uniform.

Ursa rolled forward with her stumble, Astra's blade whispering past her just out of reach as the guardsman thudded into the wall outside in the hallway. With a disjointed scramble, Ursa was on her feet as Astra emerged with all the fire and righteousness of Rao.

“I am injured..” Lara's voice wavered, her hands were slick and hot with fluid she couldn't see as pain lanced through her body with a frightening edge. “Please..” Lara let out another shout of pain, balling her fists to try and stave it off.

Alex shouted for the lights, finding Lara in a pool of fluid that was anything but blood. “No… your son is coming.”

Ursa ran to the nearest terminal at full speed, sending out an emergency signal before the terminal erupted in a flourish of sparks with Astra's weapon turned lance.

“ASTRA!” Alex shouted again as she helped Lara up from the floor towards a chair. “Nonononono, don't sit. Grab the back of it.” Alex directed Lara so that she was leant forward over the seat, hands wrapped around the chair back. “I.. I'm-”

“From Earth.” Lara ground out, trying to remember what breathing was as another sharp pain nearly felled her. “They are looking for you.”

Alex mimicked the breathing techniques she'd been taught in med school as she moved around so that Lara could see her without turning. Gesturing for the woman to follow her example. “I'm a healer there,” Alex spoke between breaths as Lara grimaced. “Humans do this every day.”

Lara gasped loudly, her knuckles turning white. “It... wasn't supposed to be like this.”

Alex reached over, drawing Lara's hair up and away with a twist and a hurried knot before looking at her directly again. “I know. Lara, right?” The woman nodded. “I don't, want to uh..dishonor you or your-your house-”

“Step away from Lady Jor-El!” The commanding voice of another guardsman pulled their attention and before Alex or Lara could say anything another pair grabbed Alex up and tore her away.

“Let me go!” Alex shouted, struggling against the guards. “She needs help.”

The fourth guardsman looked at Lara before turning to the others. “Contain the murderer, the council will want to deal with her on their own.”

“Murderer?! I haven't done-” Alex saw white as the back of the guard's hand impacted with her jaw.

“Find another terminal, inform Councilman Jor-El that his wife and unborn child have been found and are within Rao's arms. Let the council know there was nothing we could do. Had Kiladar Astra not harbored the earthen fugitive, we may have caught her in time to stop her.”

Lara screamed again, her legs nearly giving out from the pain as she watched helplessly as Alex was drug outside and the remaining guardsman drew his sidearm and started towards her.

Alex startled back to awareness, feet dragging the ground as her mind screamed at her.  She blinked away the haze before clutching the arms of either guard. Using their sudden shift in weight against them she pushed off the floor, somersaulting around and out of their grasp with a heavy thud.

She grabbed the first object she encountered, racing back to Lara and lunging at her would be attacker. The two rolled around in a heap of grunts and shouts until Alex was pinned on her back. She held onto one of Astra's sheaths like a guard, staring at the knife digging into the wood where it threatened to cleave her skull in two.

Alex growled through gritted teeth, fighting against the pressure of the guardsman bearing down on her. She felt her strength ebbing and with a silent prayer to anyone who would listen she let go of one side and tipped her head to the opposite side. She felt the blade as if it were on fire, ignoring its ensuing pain as she reached up with her now free hand and dug her thumb into soft tissue.

The guardsman screamed, his entire focus turning inward as he grabbed for Alex’s arm and tried to get away. She followed him back, reversing their positions as she dug the fingers of her other hand into his face.

Hands grabbed at her shoulders and arms wrapped around her torso in an effort to pry her away which only made her dig in further.

“Kill them both before others arrive!” She heard one of the guardsmen shout and braced herself for the impact.

Another roar shook the men to a standstill and the sudden lack of grappling along her body threw Alex off balance. She rolled with the motion, afraid of getting caught up again and turned to see Astra hurling two of the three men back out into the hallway.

“Alexandra.” Astra knelt in front of her, hands visible and just shy of touching her.  “Brave One….”

Alex snapped back into herself then, eyes locking with Astra's own before she lunged forward and wrapped her up as if her life depended on it. “Zod’s men, they’re all ...they-they... they were going to kill her. Kill Clark…” Alex stiffened then. “Oh god, Lara.”

Astra relaxed her hold enough to allow Alex to move.

“Here…” The woman in question groaned from the other side of the room.

The next thing Alex knew Astra was ramrod stiff, her expression one of genuine shock before Alex even registered that it was her own scream she was hearing.

Astra looked to the hilt jutting out from her shoulder, keeping herself between Alex and the others regrouping in the hallway. She pushed to a stand, hoisting Alex with her and holding her in place. “Help. Lara.”

Alex started to argue, reaching for the weapon hilt only for Astra to snatch her wrist as if the weapon wasn't even there. “-My- Brave One.”

Astra yanked Alex aside before she could say anything as another weapon was flung into the room. Without another word, Astra grabbed the one unconscious guardsman's body from the ground, throwing his dead weight towards the others before tearing herself away from Alex's grasp. With the minute distraction, she crossed the threshold before keying in a code on the outer door panel, sealing the door shut just before Alex could reach it.  With another shout, she pried the dagger loose from her shoulder and slammed it into the panel.

“ASTRA!” Alex pounded on the door, hearing the shouts and exchanges from the woman and guardsmen just beyond it.

“Alexandra?” Lara tried again, her body felt heavy and the throbbing of her head where she had been tossed around wasn't helping.

Alex heard the group beyond move further away, her fist falling short of the doors with another plea from the woman secured away with her.

Lara struggled to get upright once more only to feel Alex's hands wrap around her body. “Astra...she is Kiladar. She, she will st-stop them.” Lara attempted to reassure Alex as if that title alone were enough. Despite the truth of all of her Houses suspicions concerning Zod and the whispers of a coup.

“You...Rao bless it! You will not dishonor me or my house.” Lara stumbled but Alex held her tight, guiding her to the lounger and into it. “Do what you need to do.”

Alex looked at the sealed doors once more as a thud resounded against it and more voices gathered outside.  She turned her attention back to Lara, holding her gaze for an insurmountable moment before pulling at the layers of her dress. “How.. how different are you from me?” Alex questioned with uncertainty, moving away enough to yank the blanket from a chair nearby.

“Enough, on the inside, reproductively.” Lara groaned again pitching forward with another series of contractions. “Less than you think!”

“Ok.. okay, just breathe, deep, through the waves.” Alex fumbled about, spilling water over her hands and ruining Lara's dress further. “Sterilization...uh do you, do you have a uh healer's kit or something?”

“In the other room, black...cabinet…”  Lara swore again as another wave of pain stole her breath.

Alex stepped away, tearing apart the insides of the mentioned object before she found what she was looking for. She jammed her hands inside the box, kicking it along the floor near enough to Lara's position before kneeling back down.

“Shit…” Alex swore under her breath, finding no need to check how far along the woman was as she cupped her hand around the exposed crown of the baby's head. “Lara, you have to push.”

“WHAT??!”

“Your son is coming, right now, but you have to help him.” Alex set Lara's heels against her shoulders, adjusting her hips and forcing her to sit up a bit. “Hold on to your knees and push from here.” Alex pressed down against her diaphragm. “With everything you have in you.”

“Ok…”Lara gasped, wincing as she followed Alex's instructions. “Okay...Rao please…”

“Deep breath...now push! Push Lara!”

Lara bared down, pulling herself forward as she tried to force all the muscles in her body to force her son out.

“LARA!?”

“Jor-El…” Lara fell back with a broken grunt as a momentary relief filled her with Jor-El's voice. She panted painfully as sweat coated her body and felt as if any minute she was going to pass out.

“Lara..? Lara!” Alex shook her from her stupor, trying to keep her expression passive.

“My lifemate...he … he will protect us...he needs-”

“I need you to help your son. He needs to breathe Lara..please. One more push, one more I swear.”

Lara whimpered with a shake of her head, tears streaming down her face. “Can't... Rao help me, I can't...”

“You can. Now sit up and push!”

Jor-El and others pounded on the doors a moment before a bright light broke through the seam.

“Push Lara!”

Lara panted and cried, grabbing for her legs again before sitting forward. Her scream tore through the room and into the hall, halting the efforts of those outside.

Alex spoke the word like a mantra, easing the newborn into her grip before carefully drawing him the rest of the way out as Lara fell back in a wave of sobs. Alex cleared the boy's mouth, wiping at his nose and rubbing at his chest until she heard the first hiccup of a breath.

She couldn't help the laugh that escaped her, drawing the boy up and onto his mother's chest as he started to flail and writhe. Lara's body shook all on its own, even as Alex wrapped her and her son up in the blanket.

“My...son…” Lara warbled, fitting her hands around his body as Alex wiped his face as clean as she could manage. Lara looked at the woman as if she were sent by Rao himself, mouthing her gratitude as her voice failed her.

Just as Alex started to speak, the light burned through the door again. With a trembling hand, Lara pulled Alex's focus back to her.

“Hide.”

“I..but-”

“Be-beneath the bed... there-there’s a space.” Lara urged as the door began to melt away. “Alexandra. I do not hear my Kiladar with them.”

Alex looked struck with Lara's mention of Astra as -her- Kiladar. A sinking feeling pulling at her insides, given how Astra had left them. She should have been right there. Astra should have been visible for Jor-El and others possibly not loyal to Zod to witness-

“You must-” Lara's eyes rolled a bit as her strength wavered before she shook herself back into awareness. “Hide.”

Alex hesitated for only a moment longer before squeezing Lara's hand. “Stay awake, for your son, your Kiladar. Make them listen Lara...please just stay awake long enough. “ She watched Lara nod, which seemed more like an involuntary tremor as Alex reluctantly pulled herself away.

Astra kicked the legs out from under the last guardian, sending him into the wall and unconsciousness. The sound of rushing feet pulled her attention and despite her injuries she turned, weapon held at the ready even if she was on her knees.

“Seize her!” Ursa's voice struck her like a knife. “Seize the traitor!”

To both women's surprise, none of the guards moved on the order. Some looked to each other to gauge what to do, while others seemed confused and just shy of shocked.

Astra set one foot square on the ground, not backing down. “I am your Kiladar! The only traitor here is you!

Those loyal to Astra hesitated further looking at the carnage and chaos littering the hall. While those seemingly loyal to Zod seemed to look just beyond the poised figure on one knee.

“You are the Kiladar no more.” Non’s voice echoed behind her, turning Astra's blood to ice.

Without looking behind herself she shifted the angle of her weapon, ready to thrust backward at the man should he advance as she utilized the guards in front of her and their focus on Non to guide her actions against him.

“You, dear husband,” Astra's voice was like acid, spitting and burning through the air. “Are no authority on that matter.  By Rao's light, as your Kiladar I order you, all of you, to stand down. Now.”

Ursa raised her own weapon, ready to strike, Non did the same. Half of the guardsmen remained where they stood while the others appeared to yield.

“Their deaths are on you, my dear.” Non adjusted his aim, hurling his weapon at the nearest guard even as Astra drove her weapon back towards the man to strike. The action sent the others into motion, Ursa turned on the guardsman nearest her, striking him easily as those loyal to Zod pounced on the others.

Astra shouted in warning all too late. Non forgotten, she lunged for the guardsmen attacking her men only to collide with Ursa once more. Astra roared at the other woman, throwing her back and advancing towards her like a frenzied animal. Her blades cut through the air, each strike landing one after the other until Ursa was pinned against the wall fending off each furious blow.

With a shout, Ursa's weapon clattered to the ground as Astra's blade cut dangerously into the line of her throat.

“Yield!” Astra growled as Ursa merely smiled. She caught movement within her periphery and with the other woman's expression knew that despite their positions, Astra had lost.

“Never,” Ursa snarled, flashing a wide grin. “May the true general reign.”

Astra grabbed for the crest of Ursa's uniform, tearing it away as she twisted herself aside just as an energy blast scorched the wall where her head had been a second before it. Astra moved on all fours across the ground, tangling her weapon between Non's legs as she brought him down and drug the length of it against his body pulling him into her like a shield.

“Shoot her!” Non commanded looking at Zod from where he had emerged, weapon still poised to fire, while Astra ducked down further behind her traitorous husband.

“Yes shoot.” She growled. “Show them none are safe beyond your selfish, useless want of power.”

Zod fired again, the blast sending shards and debris from the wall striking both Non and Astra.

Non immediately grabbed for his face as Astra shoved him forward towards his general and raced down the hall. Zod fired once more after her as Ursa started after her.

“Halt!” Zod voice rang clear, stilling her movements. “Let her go.”

“We cannot just-”

“Non,” Zod warned, shutting the man up instantly. “We must, she has killed our brothers and sisters.” Zod looked to Ursa before nodding towards the unconscious few Astra had brought down before they arrived. “They need to be tended to, identified.”

One of the guardsmen still struggling with one of Zod's loyalists despite his injuries was hauled up in front of the general.

“Kneel before me, and I will spare your life.”  Blood splattered the generals face in defiance, provoking Zod merely to tip his head. “Pity.” He grabbed the guards own weapon and ran him through without hesitation.   With a faint sneer, Ursa stepped closer awaiting order.

“Take one other guard, return to Jor-El and the others. Inform them what has happened here. Secure the human, ensure Lady Jor-El and her abomination are well looked after.” Zod looked to the three other loyalists. “You will confirm that the Kiladar has betrayed us all, murdered those loyal to the council and fled like a coward. Identify these unfortunate sacrifices to her traitorous cause and notify their families.”

 

**\-------**

 

Hours passed, or so it seemed as Alex remained on her back tucked within the crawl space Lara had informed her of. She waited for as long as she could stand it, having lost consciousnesses least once. She lingered for what felt like an eternity longer before attempting to move the hidden panel aside.

When nothing happened she pushed a little further, sitting up enough to check the edge of her visual range. She saw no movement and heard no other sounds emanating around her she pushed the slider aside and twisted around enough to crawl out.

Cautiously she elbowed her way towards the edge of the furniture, straining for anything that might relay to her that she wasn't alone. If she was lucky she could make her way into the hall and find another route to the lower levels. Alex pulled herself free, staying crouched as she rounded the edge of the bed, checking behind her before moving to the nearest wall adjacent to the other room.

With her cursory glance, she noted some things had been moved, cleaned up but still showed signs of their struggles from earlier.  She took a slow, grounding breath, grabbing a figure from the nearby surface to use as a weapon just in case before she slowly crept around the corner.

“Alexandra.” Jor-El's voice washed over her, seizing her muscles as she tried to pinpoint his location. “I mean you no harm.” He kept his voice low and calm, watching her from a far corner.

“I've heard that before.” Alex pressed her back to the wall, scanning the darkened room until a soft blue glow lit the man's features from underneath.

“From Justicar Alura. Yes, I know.” He stated moving forward slowly.

“Where are Lara and Kal-El? Where's Ast-”

“How is it that you know that name?” Jor-El continued forward when Alex didn't move to strike him.

“Because I know him. I grew up with him.” Alex chanced a look around, keeping the edge of her guard up even as Jor-El continued to draw nearer.

“Like you know my niece Kara?”

Alex shifted her jaw slightly. “She's my sister on-”

“Earth.” Jor-El stood a foot or so away, looking down at the woman in front of him. “In the future.”

Alex let out a slow breath, watching the man carefully.

“You understand how absurd that sounds?”

“Yet you seem more convinced the more you continue to examine me.”

Jor-El actually smiled, faint but distinct before offering the small disc to her. “You placed this on my lifemate before you separated from her.”

“It's not mine.”

He tipped his head at Alex before she continued.

“It is your niece's. She gave it to me along with enough information to navigate my way through your world apparently through your touch of life.”

Jor-El's features straightened with her words. He palmed the disk but continued to scrutinize her. He marinated over her words, the surrounding situation and everything that had led the two of them to this point.

“Where's Astra?” Alex cautioned after another weighted series of minutes between them.

“We don't know.” He stated honestly.

Part of Alex felt relieved, while a larger part felt all the more unsettled. “Why, are you not trying to apprehend me?”

Jor-El let out his own exhale then, hands coming to settle behind his back. “Aside from the obvious debt I owe you?” He moved around her slowly, surpassing her position as he turned his focus to the cityscape through the window.

“I am all too aware of the truth of your statements that I have come to learn from others in my family. Not the least of which is my young niece. You passed plenty along to her when you bonded it seems.” He turned his focus to their reflections, thankful when Alex took it upon herself to step closer to him.

“I didn't mean to hurt or confuse her.”

“You didn't. Kara is...quite special. Especially in comparison to a human.” He looked over his shoulder at her. “Even an above average human at that.”

Alex knew it as a nicer way of stating that she or more humans as a whole were primitive by comparison to Kryptonian's but the hubris of it still put her off. It must have shown in her expression as she caught the slightest noise of amusement escape the man as she came closer still.

“Kara is the only other one, aside from my wife, however, brief her argument was on the matter before she succumbed to her exhaustion, who is vehemently defending Astra.” Jor-El looked to his side as Alex came to stand beside him. “Outside of an Earthen spy of course.”

“Defending her? She saved Lara's life. Repeatedly, from your own supposedly loyal people.”

“I know my lifemate, not unlike you with my niece, we share plenty through our bond. More than most, if any others. I know the truths she speaks. I have seen it through her eyes, but I cannot prove it. Not viably enough to combat the opposing  testimonies against her.”

Alex studied the man's face, making a faint note in the back of her mind to ask Astra or even Kara to take her back to the fortress of solitude in order to speak with his simulacrum. If she ever woke up.

“You know to some degree what is going to occur.” Jor-El began, looking at her gently before turning on back to Krypton itself. “Does she know?”

“Does she know what?”

“That she never once failed her people?”

Alex looked him over for a long moment, feeling the weight of his position and everything else he carried with him, secrets and truths surrounding them both.  

“I… don't know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Characters/Physical Ages from Story Start:(I say physical cause we all know Kryptonian's in stasis/phantom zones yield different ages as do other aliens etc. Those will be in (XX)'s  
> Carter is 3, Adam is 14, Clark is 15(27), Winn is 16, Alex is 20, Kara is 25(37), Cat is 35, Lois is 32, Eliza is 41, Jeremiah is 38, Jonathan is 53, Martha is 49, Lillian is 44, Katherine is 64, Alexander is 24, Evangelena is 21, Lucy is 21, Olsen is 26, Astra/Alura are 30ish(56), Hank 40-45(307), Diana is 35-40(5000+)
> 
> Also an easier grasp on the location of places like Gotham and Metropolis can be seen [here as I'm using this particular map for my own story references](http://batmangothamcity.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/atlasnewengl.jpg), and the fact that we've already altered the universe, instead of Smallville being in Kansas, I've returned it to one of the original Superman canons as being located somewhere within Maryland (this was prior to 1986). While Midvale is of course located on the Maryland/Deleware border.
> 
>  _Memories are in Italics_ Thanks BeyondAmbivalent!


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